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TO  THE  LIBRARY  OP  THE  UlIVERSIfY  OF 
CALIFORNIA,   at  the  request    of  the 
Librarian,  this  volume  is  donated f 
with  the  compliments  of  tjfefe  autho] 


Los  Angeles, 

December  30th,  1915. 


KELLOW  &  BROWN,   PRINTERS  AND  BOOKBINDERS 
Los  ANGELES,    CAL 


The  Thinking  Universe 

Reason  as  Applied  to  the 

Manifestations  of 

the  Infinite 


BY 

EDMUND  E.  SHEPPARD 


Price  $2.00 


THE  AUTHORS'  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS 
1735   WEST  SIXTH   STREET 
LOS    ANGELES,    CAL. 


COPYRIGHT,  1915,  BY  EDMUND  E.  SHEPPARD. 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


\ 


* 


DEDICATION 


To  every  untiring  seeker  after  Truth  whose  patient 
researches  have  brought  World  knowledge  up  to  the 
high  point  from  which  I  have  been  able  to  find  the 
Infinite;  to  Clinton  Ambrose  Billig,  M.A.,  Ph.D., 
D.D.,  whose  loving  ministrations  through  years  of 
suffering  have  helped  me  find  the  Light,  and  to  all 
lovers  of  Truth,  I  gratefully  dedicate  this  book. 

E.  E.  S. 


323441 


PLAN  OF 
"THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE" 

The  aim  of  this  work  is  to  make  comprehensible 
the  Grandeur  of  the  Immobile,  Intangible  Infinite, 
reposing  Majestically  in  its  Eternal,  Unchanging 
Stillness,  in  Everything,  as  Everything,  propelling 
Everything. 

Its  Method  is  by  a  proper  classification  and  des- 
cription of  the  processes  of  the  human  mind  to  make 
clear  that  Right  Reasoning  must  precede  Right 
Thinking,  which  is  synonymous  with  Right  Acting. 

Its  Development  shows  that  human  beings,  always 
eager  for  health,  happiness  and  prosperity,  finding 
these  things  dependent  upon  the  Rightness  of 
their  thoughts,  will  become  more  careful  in  their 
Reasoning  and  thus  live  cleaner  and  more  reasonable 
lives. 

Its  Iconociasm  is  only  that  of  removing  obstacles 
delaying  Man  in  his  progress  to  Perfection. 

Its  Constructiveness  is  the  convincing  of  Man  of  his 
sufficient  equipment  to  overcome  all  impediments  to 
his  arrival  at  Positive  Rightness. 

Its  Effect,  by  divesting  Death  of  its  terrors  and 
the  Future  Life  of  its  unreasonable  dulness,  must  be 
to  cause  Man  to  regard  Life  Here  and  Now  as  a 
pleasing  and  profitable  incident  preparatory  to  still 
more  pleasing  and  profitable  experiences  There 
and  Then. 

Its  Hope  is  that  it  may  find  its  way  into  every 
home  and  every  life. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

Life  and  Living — The  Eternal  Urge — The  Main- 
spring of  Being Page   17 

CHAPTER  II. 
Reason — Its  Office  and  Power Page  28 

CHAPTER  III. 
Studying  Infinity — Spiritual  Insight Page  40 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Infinite    Life   and   the    Beginning   of    Its    Expres- 
sions    Page   51 

CHAPTER  V. 

Positive  and   Negative  Life — Power   and   Its  Ex- 
pressions     Page   61 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Negative     Life — The     Development     of     Subcon- 
sciousnesses    Page    67 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Influence  of  the  Subconscious  on  the  Reason 
—Divine   Hypnotism  ? Page  86 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Living  Is  but  a  Series  of  States  of  Mind Page  108 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Law — The  Infinite  as  It  Works  in  Nature Page  123 

CHAPTER  X. 

Man     Can     Understand     Infinite     Laws     and     Is 
Equipped  to  Take  Care  of  Himself Page  137 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Looking    Again    at    What    We    Have     Seen — A 
Review  of  Our  Reasonings Page  154 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Infinite  Law  Unbreakable — A  Man  Cannot  Con- 
sciously Act  Unless  at  the  Moment  of  Action  He 
decides  He  Is  Right Page  164 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The    Laws    of    Expressed    Life — Their    Evolution 
and   Scope — The  Law  of  Moses Page   182 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Law  of  Christ — Its  Origin  and  How  It  Be- 
came  Theologized   Page    199 


CHAPTER  XV. 

"The     Judgment     Day"— Forever     in     Which     to 
Decide    Page   217 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Devil  and  How  to  Chain  Him— Why  Our 
Subconsciousness  is  Slow  to  Respond  to  the 
Will Page  230 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Healing — How    to    Make    Rightness    Prevail    in 
Your   Physical   Being Page   246 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Hypnosis — Auto-Hypnosis — Control    of    the    Sub- 
consciousness    Page    258 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Healthy,  Happy,  Prosperous  Ego — How  We 
Can  Affect  Ourselves  and  Others Page  272 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The    Evolution    of    Christianity — Christian    Science 

Page  289 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Future  Life,  Revealed  by  the  Law  of  Right- 
ness Page    3 1 1 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Conclusion — The  Office  of  Reason  in  the  Infinite 
Economy   Page    328 


FOREWORD 


Infinite  Life- — Universal  Mind — is  the  Supreme 
Power.  It  is  the  essence  of  a  Force  comparable  to 
nothing  else,  which,  through  Reason  caused  to  be 
Positive  by  Rightness,  can  be  made  more  fully  opera- 
tive within  us,  and  thus  bring  us  Health  and  Happi- 
ness Here  and  Now  as  well  as  There  and  Then.  It 
is  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  show  how  Reason  can 
be  made  Positive  in  Rightness. 

This  is  a  dear,  good  old  world,  much  as  in  mo- 
ments of  misery  we  may  think  or  say  to  the  con- 
trary. We  know  that  the  universe  is  not  misbegot- 
ten or  misconducted,  for  everything  in  it  is  right 
but  ourselves.  We  are  the  only  things  capable  of 
reasoning,  and  as  we  are  the  only  things  that  get  out 
of  gear  with  the  universe  it  must  be  our  Reason  that 
is  at  fault.  Our  mistakes  we  call  sins,  and  we  suffer 
for  them.  We  try,  oh !  so  hard,  and  fail,  or  seem  to 
fail,  yet  the  Universal  Urge  to  Rightness  that  we 
see  working  so  perfectly  in  everything  about  us  is 
also  in  US.  There  must  be  a  way  for  us  to  arrive 
at  Rightness.  Come  let  us  reason  together  and  we 
will  find  it. 


Over  half  a  century  ago,  when  the  writer  was  but 
a  "wee  bit  laddie/'  his  maiden  aunt  was  in  the  habit 
of  paying  an  annual  visit  to  the  farmhouse  in  which 
he  was  born.  Welcome  as  was  her  coming,  it  is  to 
be  feared  that  she  would  not  have  been  so  eagerly 
looked  for  had  it  not  been  for  the  box  of  presents 
which  she  never  failed  to  bring  from  the  city  for  us 
children.  We  were  permitted  to  open  the  box  for 
ourselves  and  to  select  our  own  belongings.  What 
joy!  Every  toy,  every  trinket,  every  book,  was  a 
treasure  of  art.  Is  it  not  possible  for  you  to  look 
into  a  new  book  with  something  of  the  same  ex- 
pectancy as  we  peered  into  Auntie's  box?  The  Great 
Philosophy  asserts  that  unless  we  become  as  little 
children  we  can  in  no  wise  enter  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven — the  State  of  Harmony.  We  cannot  physi- 
cally or  mentally  return  to  the  state  of  childhood,  but 
we  can  retain,  or  bring  back  if  we  have  lost  it,  our 
faculty  of  Image  Making.  We  can  hold  communion 
with  unseen  familiars  as  do  children.  We  can  be 
expectant  to  the  point  of  believing  that  that  which 
is  so  intensely  hoped  for  is  already  ours.  We  can, 
in  fact,  become  so  aware  of  what  Is  as  to  know  It 
without  the  aid  of,  indeed  in  spite  of,  our  physical 
senses.  It  is  to  be  hoped  you  will  read  this  book 
in  such  a  spirit.  What  is  a  book  but  a  parcel  of 
thoughts,  things  wrapped  up  in  printed  words?  The 
container  may  be  crude,  but  undo  the  wrapping 
carefully  and  you  will  find  something  in  it  for  YOU. 


Everything  in  it  is  intended  for  YOU.  Every  cult 
has  its  vocabulary — its  jargon.  As  little  as  possible 
of  this  sort  of  thing  has  been  used  without  becoming 
tiresome  to  the  specialists,  who  express  in  one  word 
what  would  require  an  explanatory  paragraph. 

This  book  may  be  small,  but  it  will  be  found  far 
too  large  for  those  who  do  not  try  to  understand  it ; 
it  will  seem  just  the  right  size  to  those  who  grasp  and 
appreciate  its  meaning,  and  it  will  not  be  too  large 
for  those  who  become  interested  and  determined  to 
weigh  its  statements  by  reading  it  ovei  and  over 
again. 

The  thoughts  themselves  have  come  out  of  the 
fire  of  years  of  suffering,  and  should  be  as  pure  as 
they  are  joyous  in  their  release.  Do  not  open  this 
book  with  a  yawn  or  a  sneer.  If  you  are  in  a  mood 
which  makes  you  feel  like  tearing  something,  put 
The  Thinking  Universe  aside  till  you  are  in  a  humor 
to  have  a  real  good  think.  That  you  will  then  find 
that  everything  in  it  is  for  YOU  is  the  wish  of 

AUTHOR. 


CHAPTER  I. 


AND    LIVING  —  THE    ETERNAL    URGE  —  THE 
MAINSPRING  OF   BEING 


At  the  outset  let  us  see  together.  In  order  to 
see  alike  we  must  take  the  same  viewpoint  and 
know  that  we  are  looking  at  the  same  thing.  We 
are  about  to  look  at  Life  and  its  Phenomena.  Life 
and  Living  are  by  no  means  identical.  Life  is  the 
Infinite,  the  Immobile,  the  Unchanging,  the  All- 
powerful,  the  All-wise,  the  Omnipresent,  the  Abso- 
lute, the  Ultimate.  This  we  will  examine  later  on, 
after  we  have  looked  at  things  about  which  we  are 
more  accustomed  to  reason.  While  Infinite  Life  is 
motionless,  Expressed  Life  is  all  and  always  in  mo- 
tion. We  and  all  things  distinguishable  by  the 
senses,  as  well  as  everything  that  exists,  even  in  the 
most  intangible  form,  such  as  light,  heat,  sound,  elec- 
tricity, and  our  unsensuous  bodies,  not  discernible  by 
our  physical  faculties,  belong  to  Expressed  Life. 
Admitting  for  the  moment  what  later  will  be  proved, 
that  everything  is  Mind,  everything  must  think,  as 
that  is  what  Mind  does.  Mind  and  Life  are  iden- 
tical. When  we  live,  we  think ;  when  we  think,  we 
live. 


18  THE:    THINKING 

While  Infinite  Life  is  not  divisible  and  is  every- 
where in  all  things,  we  will  for  the  present  accom- 
modate ourselves  to  our  habit  of  thought  and  think 
of  it  and  its  Expressions  separately.  At  once  we 
can  find  a  common  viewpoint — we  are  all  Living. 
We  do  not  all  live  alike,  because  by  heredity  and 
environment  we  are  not  so  constituted  as  to  reason 
all  alike.  Heredity  and  environment  affect  our  ideas 
of  values.  We  do  not  all  like  the  same  things.  To 
the  Esquimaux  in  the  frozen  North  a  piece  of  whale 
blubber,  disgusting  to  differently  bred  residents  of 
a  milder  climate,  is  a  savory  morsel.  Even  amongst 
people  inhabiting  the  same  zone,  of  the  same  race, 
and  very  much  the  same  religion,  there  are  many 
superficial  differences  as  to  ways  of  living.  The  car- 
penter, the  blacksmith,  the  clerk,  the  farmer,  the 
professional  man,  in  the  ordinary  routine  of  living, 
works  as  he  thinks,  and  the  monotony  of  his  life  is 
great  or  small  according  to  the  amount  of  thought 
he  devotes  to  his  work.  Until  recently  women's  tasks 
were  less  varied  and  more  monotonous  than  those  of 
men,  and  it  is  no  wonder  they  considered  their  daily 
routine  of  housekeeping  and  dish-washing,  cooking, 
and  sewing,  and  bed-making,  and  scrubbing,  insuf- 
ferably dull.  Because  their  tasks  excited  but  little 
reasoning,  they  did  little  living. 


AND   LIVING — THE:   ETERNAL   URGE      19 

To  get  a  yet  nearer  viewpoint  of  Living,  let  us 
drop  all  differences  as  to  ways  of  "making  a  living" 
and  glance  at  the  social  life  of  two  modern  homes. 
The  home  of  the  wealthy  man  is  luxurious,  but  not 
necessarily  happy.  Leisure  does  not  always  cause 
good  reasoning,  and  where  good  reasoning  is  absent 
good  conduct  cannot  be  found.  If  all  the  reasoning 
in  the  home  is  about  money,  fashion,  pleasure,  all 
the  conversation  will  be  about  such  things.  In  the 
poor  man's  home  necessity  may  cause  money  to  be 
a  topic  frequently  discussed,  together  with  the 
absence  of  pleasure,  variety,  and  ease,  and  the  result 
is  the  same — poor  living  because  of  poor  reasoning. 

Let  us  get  nearer  still.  The  wife  and  mother  is 
on  her  deathbed.  In  both  homes  alike  the  grief- 
stricken  family  is  gathered  about  the  loved  one  who 
is  about  to  pass  away.  The  grief  in  both  cases  is 
heartfelt,  the  anguish  of  parting  acute.  Both  homes 
have  come  to  the  same  door,  and  as  it  opens  and 
the  spirit  flutters  out  they  stand  on  the  same  plane, 
they  are  confronted  by  a  general  principle,  that  living 
Here  and  Now  must  terminate.  They  are  uplifted 
and  purified  to  the  extent  of  their  conception  of  what 
this  so-called  Death  means,  but  in  no  case  do  they 
really  feel  that  living  is  over  for  THEM,  though  it 
may  be  for  HER.  They  do  not  wish,  they  do  not 
even  attempt  to  lie  down  and  die  with  her,  no  matter 


20  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE; 

what  their  love  for  her  may  have  been.  Why?  The 
Urge  of  Life  is  too  strong  within  them  to  entertain 
such  a  thought.  They  go  about  their  tasks  as  usual, 
and  the  agony  of  grief  is  a  thing  folded  up  and  laid 
away.  The  business  man,  the  inventor,  the  specu- 
lator, the  adventurer,  fails,  but  he  tries  again.  Why? 
There  is  an  Urge  within  him  that  keeps  him  from 
giving  up.  Human  persistence  would  be  incredible, 
non-existent,  if  it  were  not  for  that  something  within 
us  which  persists  in  spite  of  failures.  The  world  is 
said  to  love  a  lover  and  to  hate  a  quitter.  The 
Universe  is  held  together  by  the  attraction  of  things 
to  their  kind,  but  there  is  no  such  thing  as  quitting 
in  the  Infinite;  everything  is  continuous  in  some 
form.  No  man  commits  suicide  until  he  has  made 
up  his  mind  that  it  is  Right  for  HIM  to  do  so. 
Worry,  overwork,  fear,  a  weariness  of  reasoning 
what  to  do  next,  may  put  the  physical  machinery 
by  which  he  expresses  himself  out  of  order,  but  you 
may  be  sure  that  even  in  his  deranged  state  he  rea- 
sons he  is  doing  right  when  he  puts  himself  out  of 
his  sensuous  body.  Even  the  pessimist,  that  unfor- 
tunate creature  of  whom  it  has  been  said  that  of 
two  evils  he  chooses  both,  does  not  "quit/'  though 
we  often  wish  he  would.  Why?  Because  there  is 
something  better,  more  hopeful,  in  him,  than  he 
expresses.  He  is  only  trying  to  make  an  average 
for  himself  by  seeking  to  bring  his  fellowmen  down 


AND   LIVING  —  THE:   ETERNAL  URGE     21 


to  the  low  level  of  weariness  of  all  things  as  they 
are. 

We  will  see  before  we  get  very  far  in  these 
studies  how  many  of  the  commonest  expressions  we 
so  frequently  use  are  full  of  meaning  that  we  have 
never  appreciated,  and  we  will  cease  to  doubt  the 
presence  within  us  of  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Right- 
ness  that  is  continually  shaping  the  phrases  by 
which  we  express  ourselves.  For  instance,  have 
you  ever  stopped  to  consider  where  you  "go"  when 
you  "go  to  sleep,"  or  where  people  "go"  when  they 
"go  crazy,"  or  what  becomes  of  the  sound  when  it 
"dies  away,"  or  the  light  when  it  "goes  out"?  Did 
you  ever  ask  yourself  why  you  "must  have  some 
excuse"  before  you  do  anything  of  doubtful  propri- 
ety? Now  that  your  attention  is  called  to  it,  you 
will  remember  often  having  used  or  heard  the  old 
saying,  "Be  sure  you  are  right,  then  go  ahead." 
How  do  you  get  sure  you  "are  right,"  and  how  do 
you  "go  ahead"?  We  so  seldom  consider  our  men- 
tal processes.  Simple  as  they  are  when  we  come  to 
understand  them,  it  is  not  strange  that  we  so  often 
find  ourselves  in  a  mental  fog,  and  rashly  accuse 
LIFE  of  being  unintelligible  or  stupid,  while  the 
stupidity  is  ours  and  LIFE  is  unintelligible  only 
because  we  have  not  sincerely  sought  to  understand  it. 


22  THE:   THINKING  UNIVERSE 

"All  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life." 
This  oft-quoted  text  does  not  overstate  the  case,  yet 
every  day  we  are  made  aware  that  men,  consumed 
by  passion  or  lust,  risk  their  lives  by  slaying  their 
fellows,  or  in  some  hazardous  attempt  to  obtain 
money  or  fame,  while  yet  others,  unheeding  the 
strongest  human  instinct,  self-preservation,  endanger 
or  lose  their  lives  to  save  their  fellow-creatures. 
Why?  What  is  the  mainspring  of  life?  Why  are 
some  people  diseased,  distorted,  while  others  are 
apparently  well  and  happy?  Why  is  there  any  sick- 
ness at  all,  any  such  thing  as  we  call  death?  Why 
are  some  rich  and  prosperous,  while  others  are  pov- 
erty-stricken and  appear  to  be  helpless  in  their  fight 
for  their  share?  Why  are  some  happy  and  hopeful 
while  others  are  miserable  and  despairing?  Why 
Job's  ancient  and  anguished  cry,  "If  a  man  die, 
shall  he  live  again?"  Theologians  and  scientists  are 
as  wide  apart  as  the  poles  in  answering  these  ques- 
tions, and  fail  to  satisfy  that  which  we  call  Reason. 
Why?  Is  Reason  a  thing  to  be  satisfied? 

Is  it  worth  your  while  to  seek  the  law  of  your 
Being?  As  you  cannot  escape  Being  and  should 
seek  to  know  how  to  Be  Right,  the  answer  seems 
easy.  To  the  open-minded  and  thoughtful  the  appeal 
of  well-founded  and  concentrated  Reason  should  not 
be  difficult  and  should  receive  careful  and  honest 


AND   LIVING — THE  ETERNAL  URGE      23 

consideration.  With  those  natures  which  are  narrow, 
hide-bound,  and  set  in  the  belief  that  "man  was  made 
to  mourn,"  be  sick,  suffering,  unrestful,  it  seems 
almost  useless  to  argue,  but  even  they  may  be 
reached.  Those  who  are  fond  of  assuming  the 
jester's  attitude  and  quote  with  frequency  and  appro- 
bation the  saying  of  the  superficial  humorist  that 
"Life  is  just  one  damned  old  thing  after  another," 
are  difficult  of  access  because  they  are  so  engrossed 
with  the  task  of  getting  something  jolly  out  of  life 
right  Here  and  Now  that  they  think  they  cannot 
afford  the  time  to  consider  whether  they  are  really 
getting  the  best  of  what  is  going.  If  they  will 
pause  for  a  moment  and  carefully  scrutinize  the  dif- 
ference between  Life  and  Living,  they  may  be  led 
to  seek  further.  Our  mode  of  living  is  certainly 
"one  old  thing  after  another" — the  same  old  tasks; 
carrying  the  same  old  bucket  to  the  same  old  well ; 
the  same  monotonous  old  grind  for  the  man,  relieved 
by  occasional  and  admitted  foolishness ;  the  same 
dreary  routine  for  the  woman,  housekeeping,  cooking 
and  dish-washing  and  bed-making,  with  occasional 
frivolities  to  vary  the  sameness,  or  it  may  be  the 
same  useless  rounds  of  aimless  frivolities,  which 
result,  in  the  end,  in  filling  life  with  a  nauseating 
sameness.  This,  as  has  been  already  said,  may  be 
Living,  but  it  is  not  Life.  Life  avoids  sameness,  and 
when  understood  is  seen  to  be  filled  with  new  and 


24  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE: 

changing  things,  as  beautifully  regular  in  their 
appearance  as  the  changing  seasons,  which  are  never 
exactly  alike.  To  those  who  study  the  Law  of  Being 
the  ever-changing,  ever  beautiful,  ever  just  expres- 
sions of  Life  become  a  delight.  The  old  tasks  assume 
new  aspects,  as  they  are  undertaken  with  a  new 
purpose,  a  new  hope,  a  new  perspective. 

It  is  not  our  fondness  for  living  as  we  do  which 
makes  us  cling  to  Life.  If  it  were,  we  would  not  see 
men  risking  or  losing  their  lives  as  we  do.  It  is 
something  higher.  It  is  that  which  is  known  to  the 
thoughtful  as  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness  which 
is  within  all  of  us.  We  cannot  question  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Infinite,  for  when  we  look  at  the  wonders 
of  our  own  being  and  of  all  the  beings  in  the  animal, 
vegetable  and  mineral  kingdoms  we  dimly  compre- 
hend, as  the  Cause  is  greater  than  the  Effect,  that 
there  is  something  superior  to  ourselves  or  anything 
distinguishable  by  our  senses.  This  Something, 
science  and  experience  teach  us,  is  Everywhere,  and 
we  reasonably  conclude  that  it  does  Everything. 
This  we  call  the  Infinite.  Each  thing  as  we  come 
to  understand  it  appears  to  be  for  our  good,  and  we 
conclude  that  the  Cause  of  everything  is  good. 
In  all  Nature  we  every  day  see  evidences  of  progress, 
the  new,  the  fresh,  the  beautiful,  the  useful,  replacing 
the  old,  the  withered,  the  useless.  In  everything  but 


LIFE  AND   LIVING — THE  ETERNAL  URGE     25 

ourselves  we  see  that  this  is  good,  and  because 
things  are  not  stationary,  but  progressive,  we  con- 
clude that  that  which  caused  all  these  good  things 
is  still  Causing,  and  we  call  this  power  the  Infinite 
Urge  to  Rightness. 

Let  us  look  at  a  grain  of  wheat.  With  a  proper 
environment  of  warmth  and  moisture  it  germinates ; 
in  proper  soil  it  grows ;  the  blade,  the  stalk  appears, 
the  head  of  wheat,  the  ripened  grain.  We  do  not 
know  how  it  is  done.  We  cannot  make  a  grain  of 
wheat  that  will  grow.  All  we  can  say  is  that  its 
growth  and  development  are  caused  by  the  Infinite 
Urge  to  Rightness.  The  grain  never  develops  into  a 
thistle  or  a  cabbage ;  it  is  always  Right.  It  is  so 
with  the  acorn  and  the  oak.  Each  germinal  thing 
develops  its  kind.  That  each  thing  develops  in  this 
way  gives  us  faith  that  each  thing  will  continue  to 
do  so,  and  in  no  sense  can  our  sensuous  under- 
standing be  the  basis  of  believing  that  which  we 
cannot  demonstrate.  So  we  must  accept  the  Infinite 
Urge  to  Rightness  as  being  the  means  by  which  the 
Infinite  Causation  produces  results,  even  though  we 
cannot  sense  it  or  technically  understand  its  opera- 
tions. Does  the  agnostic  who  is  proud  of  his  skep- 
ticism ever  consider  himself  when  he  says  that  he 
cannot  believe  anything  which  he  cannot  see,  hear, 
taste,  smell,  or  feel?  Does  he  ever  consider  his 


26  THE:   THINKING  UNIVERSE 

origin  even  as  far  back  as  physical  science  will  carry 
him?  Is  he  not  aware  that  in  physics  he  can  be 
traced  back  to  an  egg  as  small  as  the  head  of  a  wee 
pin,  an  egg  beside  which  the  one  he  has  for  breakfast 
would  be  mammoth  in  size?  Does  he  cite  to  him- 
self the  fact  that  he  is  the  product  of  this  smaller 
egg,  while  the  chicken  is  the  product  of  the  larger 
one?  When  he  says  that  he  does  not  believe  in 
anything  he  does  not  understand,  does  he  believe 
that  he  himself  IS  ?  He  must  know,  not  sensuously 
but  unsensuously — spiritually — that  he,  six-footer  as 
he  may  be,  was  potentially  contained  in  that  egg. 
He  must  know  that  his  size,  his  shape,  the  color  of 
his  eyes  and  hair,  and  all  his  bodily  and  spiritual 
conditions  in  embryo,  were  contained  in  that  egg; 
that  just  as  the  egg  of  the  Dorking  hen  fecundated 
by  one  of  her  own  kind  produces  a  Dorking  chick, 
so  by  the  same  law  he  is  what  he  is.  How  does  he 
account  for  the  minute  egg  developing  into  the  large 
man?  His  father  and  mother  did  not  cause  it  to 
develop.  He  did  not  do  it,  though  he  may  have 
assisted  slightly  in  making  the  development  more 
perfect  than  it  was  in  embryo  in  the  egg.  But  if  he 
did  so  help  development  himself,  does  he  ask  why? 
Why  should  he  make  the  effort?  At  this  point  he 
comes  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  his  apparently 
automatic  and  self  development  are  both  the  effect 


AND   LIVING — THE  ETERNAL  URGE     27 

of  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness  within  him.  It  is 
the  mainspring  of  Life,  unerring  in  its  workings 
throughout  Unreasoning  Nature,  and  equally  unerr- 
ing in  Reasoning  Man,  who  only  doubts  its  good- 
ness and  justice  because  he  reasons  wrongly  about 
It,  as  he  is  ignorant  of  the  law  by  which  It  works 
and  misunderstands  his  relation  to  It. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  means  which  we  have 
at  our  disposal  for  studying  the  Infinite  and  learning 
its  law,  that  we  may  conform  to  it  and  direct  its 
irresistible  power  towards  our  happiness,  harmony 
and  well-being. 


CHAPTER  II. 

REASON — ITS  OFFICE;  AND  POWER 

In  approaching  the  study  of  Infinity  it  is  well  for 
us  to  consider  our  equipment  for  so  serious  a  task. 
A  moment's  thought  convinces  us  that  we  can  call  to 
our  assistance  nothing  but  that  which  we  ordinarily 
should  use  in  scrutinizing  the  most  commonplace  sub- 
jects— Reason.  What  is  this  thing  we  call  Reason? 
What  is  its  office,  what  its  power?  Lexicographers 
define  Reason  as  "(n)  That  mental  faculty  in  man 
which  enables  him  to  deduce  inferences  from  facts, 
and  to  distinguish  between  right  and  wrong;  right 
judgment ;  efficient  or  final  cause ;  cause  for  opinion 
or  act ;  premise  of  an  argument,  especially  the  minor ; 
v.  i.  to  infer  conclusions  from  premises;  v.  t.  to  per- 
suade by  reasoning."  So  far  as  is  known,  Man  alone 
is  endowed  with  Reason,  and  to  the  possession  of  this 
faculty  is  ascribed  his  superiority  to  all  other  Expres- 
sions of  Infinity.  Admitting  this  as  indisputable,  we 
find  that,  Man  being  the  superlative  Expression  of 
Infinity  because  of  his  possession  of  Reason,  there- 
fore Reason  must  be  the  highest  Expression  of  the 
Infinite,  that  thing  which  is  nearest  to  Infinity  itself. 


REASON — ITS  OFFICE  AND  POWER  29 

This  at  once  gives  to  Reason  the  highest  place  in  the 
Universe  next  to  the  Infinite  Mind — a  place  generally 
denied  to  it  by  Theologians,  who  place  Faith  as  supe- 
rior to  it  in  arriving  at  a  conclusion  with  regard  to 
Infinity,  even  while  admitting  the  superiority  of  Rea- 
son as  a  guide  in  more  commonplace  matters.  This 
discrimination  as  to  the  office  of  Reason  in  grave  or 
trivial  matters  is  illogical,  for  it  is  by  Reason  alone 
that  we  can  distinguish  between  the  important  and 
the  unimportant.  Faith  itself  is  but  Reason  satisfied 
by  proofs  that  are  not  of  the  senses.  In  considering 
a  subject  what  proofs  of  this  sort  can  be  adduced? 
To  discover  this  we  must  further  examine  the  purpose 
and  power  of  Reason,  though  this  involves  the  accept- 
ance as  facts  of  what  in  later  chapters  will  be  demon- 
strated to  be  truths. 

Life  and  Mind  are  synonymous.  Neither  could  have 
existed  prior  to  the  other,  and  nothing  could  have 
been  prior  to  either.  The  human — the  only  Reason- 
ing— mind  cannot  conceive  of  a  condition  of  nothing- 
ness, and  we  assume  that  there  never  could  have  been 
and  never  can  be  such  a  condition.  The  Reasoning 
mind,  however,  can  conceive  of  a  condition  when 
there  was  but  one  thing — Life,  Mind.  This  statement 
is  not  technically  exact,  for  Life,  Mind,  is  not  a 
thing,  but  That  which  causes  all  things.  The  differ- 
ence between  a  thing  and  the  cause  of  the  thing  will 


30  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

become  more  apparent  as  we  go  further  into  the 
subject.  Mind,  abhorring  loneliness,  expressed  itselt, 
as  all  Mind  does.  This  is  what  we  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  calling  the  creation  of  Things.  The  word 
creation  is  avoided  in  this  work  because  it  carries  with 
it  in  the  popular  mind  the  idea  of  something  being 
made  out  of  nothing — an  impossibility.  The  word 
Expression  is  used  instead  of  Creation,  as  expression 
is  the  natural  and  well  understood  product  of  Mind. 
Mind,  being  alone,  had  no  material  or  tools  but  itself 
to  make  anything  out  of,  but  it  could  and  did  Express 
itself,  and  its  Expressions,  like  itself,  were  Fixed  and 
Eternal.  So  far  scientists  have  been  able  to  discover 
between  eighty  and  ninety  elemental  Expressions  from 
which  all  things  have  been  evolved.  These,  in  this 
study,  are  termed  Consciousnesses — a  Consciousness 
being  a  something  which  knows  what  it  is.  These 
Consciousnesses  being  the  expressions  of  Infinity,  are 
eternal,  indestructible.  This  indestructibility  has  been 
known  in  science  as  the  Indestructibility  of  the  Atom ; 
in  this  study  as  the  Indestructibility  of  the  Conscious- 
ness. 

In  order  to  avoid  any  misunderstanding  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  word  Atom  let  us  define  the  sense  in 
which  it  is  used  in  this  work .  In  the  final  analysis 
of  so-called  "matter"  the  smallest  quantity  calculable 
into  which  a  thing  can  be  divided  is  called  an  "appar- 


REASON — ITS  OFFICE  AND  POWER  31 

ent  atom."  Beyond  this  there  must  be  still  further 
gradations  as  the  "apparent  atom"  nears  the  point  of 
closest  approach  to  Positive  Life,  in  which  there  are 
no  atoms,  there  being  no  dimensions.  At  this  point 
of  closest  approach  the  real  atom  is  to  be  found,  if  it 
is  findable,  and  it  is  Indestructible,  Unconvertible, 
Eternal.  The  number  of  elemental  atoms  to  be  found 
in  the  final  analysis  is  less  important  than  to  estab- 
lish the  atom  as  the  Indestructible  Unit — the  basis  of 
all  these  partnerships  and  combinations  which  we 
know  as  Things. 

These  Expressions  were  formed  by  vibrations ;  that 
is,  the  Infinite  Expression  became  a  Thing,  a  Con- 
striction, by  forming  a  force  within  Life  itself.  This 
Constriction  consisted  of  a  vibration,  and  the  differ- 
ence of  vibrations  produced  the  difference  in  Things. 
This  introduced  Density  and  Motion,  for,  contrary  to 
the  teaching  of  Physics,  all  Life  is  not  Motion,  Infi- 
nite Life  being  Absolute  Stillness,  it  having  Nowhere 
to  go  and  Nothing  in  which  to  move.  Expressed  Life 
is  Motion,  moving  easily  through  the  Intangible  and 
Unresisting  Infinite  Life.  Movement  itself  implies 
the  going  of  Some  Thing  from  Some  Place  to  Some 
Where.  The  introduction  of  the  principle  of  Density 
was  thus  followed  by  Time,  Time  expressing  the 
number  of  vibrations  it  required  a  Thing  to  make  to 
go  from  one  locality  to  another,  and  the  possibility 


32  TH£  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

of  considering  Things  in  terms  of  Time  and  Space 
began.  As  has  been  proven  by  the  patient  and  more 
or  less  accurate  researches  of  the  teachers  of  the 
theory  of  Evolution,  everything  began  in  its  simplest 
form,  but,  impelled  by  the  Infinite  Urge,  Atoms  began 
at  once  to  form  Combinations.  These  Combinations, 
impelled  by  the  same  Urge,  formed  other  Combina- 
tions, these  again  multiplying  into  the  myriad  Ex- 
pressions of  Life  we  see  about  us.  In  these  Combi- 
nations the  elemental  Atom  retains  its  identity,  which 
is  Indestructible,  though  when  associated  with  another 
or  many  other  Atoms  of  its  own  or  other  kinds  new 
Expressions  of  Life  are  formed.  These  Expressions 
are  called  Subconsciousnesses,  and  these  Combina- 
tions are  both  formed  and  dissolved  by  the  Eternal 
Urge  of  Infinity,  in  which  Everything  is,  and  which 
is  in  Everything.  It  is  evident  in  studying  the 
economy  of  the  Infinite  that  it  is  necessarily  true  that 
these  Subconsciousnesses  be  ephemeral  in  order  that 
Progress  may  be  made.  Thus  by  the  constant  disso- 
lution of  these  Subconsciousnesses  room  and  material 
are  provided  for  other  Combinations  of  a  superior 
sort.  The  movements  of  these  Atoms  in  seeking  this 
progressive  adjustment  are  known  to  us  as  Vibrations. 
Everything,  then,  from  the  first  Expression  of  Life 
has  been  in  the  direction  of  Automatic  and  Pro- 
gressive Readjustment,  with  one  exception,  everything 


REASON — ITS  OFFICE  AND  POWER  33 

being  impelled  by  the  Infinite  Urge.  In  Man  alone 
has  this  been  different,  he  being  the  only  Triune 
Expression,  the  Trinity  being  formed  of  the  associa- 
tion of  Atoms  constituting  his  Subconsciousness ;  the 
presence  within  him  of  the  Infinite  with  its  Eternal 
Urge,  which  we  call  the  Supraconsciousness,  and  the 
special  Consciousness — Reason — which  gives  him  his 
identity  and  superlative  status. 

Let  us  now  take  one  of  the  many  glimpses  we  will 
get  of  how  exactly  the  workings  of  elemental  so- 
called  Physical  and  Spiritual  laws  are  the  duplicates 
of  each  other.  We  will  take  Reason — the  human 
Consciousness — and  the  human  Subconsciousness,  and 
we  will  find  a  startling  similarity  in  their  workings. 
The  Subconsciousness  has  charge  of  the  nourishment 
and  maintenance  of  the  body.  The  mouth  and  throat 
furnish  the  intake  for  the  food  and  drink;  the  stom- 
ach and  digestive  system  change  these  things  into 
blood,  which  for  the  purpose  of  purification  is  carried 
to  the  respiratory  system,  and  passing  through  the 
lungs  is  clarified  and  "spiritualized"  (made  finer)  by 
the  air  received  through  the  mouth,  nostrils  and 
throat,  before  being  put  into  circulation.  Thus  we 
see  that  the  nutritive  system  of  our  physical  body  has 
but  ONE  intake,  the  throat.  Reason — the  human 
Consciousness — which  has  charge  of  the  nourishment 
and  maintenance  of  the  spiritual  body,  has  SEVEN 


34  THS  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

intakes  whereby  to  obtain  Knowledge,  which  is  the 
nourishment  required  by  our  intellectual  body.  This 
Knowledge  is  taken  in  by  the  five  senses — Sight, 
Hearing,  Smell,  Taste,  and  Feeling.  These  enable 
Reason  to  adjust  the  intellectual  body  to  the  environ- 
ment of  NOW.  By  the  Memory  intake  it  draws 
from  the  Subconsciousness  knowledge  of  what  was 
good  and  bad  in  the  past,  and  this  is  mixed,  so  to 
speak,  with  the  information  acquired  by  the  Senses 
and  digested  in  the  Perceptive  and  Receptive  depart- 
ments of  our  Intellectual  faculties.  Unfortunately 
this  is  as  far  as  much  of  our  most  nutritive  informa- 
tion goes,  but  it  should  go  further.  Like  the  digested 
food,  which  is  only  crude  blood  until  it  is  purified  by 
the  respiratory  system,  the  information  digested  by 
our  Reason  in  the  Receptive  organs  of  our  brain  is 
crude  until  it  is  carried  into  the  Reflective  system, 
which  has  an  intake  which,  like  the  Memory  intake 
reaching  the  Subconsciousness,  reaches  our  Supracon- 
sciousness,  the  Infinite  Life — the  Infinite  Rightness 
within  us.  This  Infinite  Life,  when  sought  for  by  us 
as  we  seek  for  fresh  air  for  our  respiratory  system 
when  we  are  in  a  badly  ventilated  room,  we  can  draw 
into  our  Reflective  faculties  to  purify  and  make  right 
the  thoughts  we  place  there  to  be  benefited  by  this 
process.  Drawing  in  this  life  is  like  breathing,  only 
it  is  not  automatic,  as  are  all  the  functionings  of 


REASON — ITS  OFFICE  AND  POWER  35 

Subconscious  life;  drawing  it  in  must  be  Conscious — 
i.  e.,  we  must  know  we  are  doing  it,  as  we  must 
KNOW  we  are  doing  everything  that  we  do  intel- 
lectually. If  our  thoughts  are  passed  into  our  intel- 
lectual circulation — the  motor  brain  and  nervous  sys- 
tem— in  a  crude  and  unclarified  state,  they  weaken 
and  damage  us,  just  as  blood  not  properly  clarified  by 
the  respiratory  system,  going  into  circulation  through- 
out the  physical  body,  weakens  and  damages  it.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  the  seventh  intake  with  which 
Reason  provides  itself  with  nourishment  is  the  most 
important,  though  for  the  adjustment  of  our  intel- 
lectual bodies  Here  and  Now,  what  is  acquired  by  the 
other  intakes  cannot  be  neglected.  Thus  when  we 
Act — which  is  but  the  expression  of  Thinking,  which 
in  its  turn  is  but  the  expression  of  Reason  after  it 
has  arrived  at  what  it  considers  Rightness — without 
using  any  one  of  the  six  intakes  provided  for  the 
adjustment  of  our  intellectual  life  to  the  environment 
of  Here  and  Now,  we  are  almost  certain  to  get  into 
trouble.  Thus,  when  we  express  ourselves  by  walk- 
ing and  do  not  use  our  Sight  we  are  proceeding  as  a 
man  does  in  the  dark,  and  are  apt  to  stumble  and  fall. 
If  we  do  not  use  our  Hearing,  warnings  of  danger 
shouted  to  us  will  not  be  heeded  and  we  are  apt  to  get 
hurt.  If  we  do  not  use  our  sense  of  Smell  we  are 
apt  to  be  asphyxiated.  A  disregard  of  the  precaution 


36  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

of  exercising  our  Taste  may  cause  us  to  be  poisoned ; 
and  if  we  pay  no  attention  to  Feeling  we  will  be 
damaged  by  excessive  heat  and  cold,  or  suffer  shock 
from  experiencing  too  much  pain.  If  we  are  oblivi- 
ous of  what  Memory  tells  us  we  will  repeat  the  mis- 
takes of  the  past,  to  our  great  detriment.  Thus  we 
see  that  we  cannot  afford  to  inhibit,  if  we  desire  intel- 
lectual life  in  its  fulness,  any  of  the  intakes  of  Reason ; 
while  on  the  other  hand  we  must  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  we  are  making  as  great  a  mistake  by  feeding 
our  Reason  with  the  wrong  things,  or  anything  in 
indigestible  quantities,  as  we  are  when  we  feed  our 
stomach  with  too  many  sweets,  spices,  stimulants  or 
fats,  or  indeed  anything  which  cannot  be  properly 
assimilated. 

Now  that  we  have  fully  seized  the  facts  with  regard 
to  the  process  of  Reasoning,  let  us  make  sure  that  we 
do  not  confuse  it  with  Thinking.  Thinking  is  the 
result  of  Reasoning  put  into  action — into  circulation 
— by  the  Reasoning  Being.  Thinking  in  Unreason- 
ing Nature  is  action  without  Reasoning — action  from 
the  Point  of  Rightness  set  for  each  thing  by  the 
Infinite  and  caused  by  Its  Urge.  Of  this  we  shall 
see  much  more;  but  in  the  meantime  do  not  be  con- 
fused by  the  intimacy  of  the  two  processes  into  mis- 
understanding the  office  of  either. 

Spiritual  body  is  used  in  the  above  to  designate  the 


REASON — ITS  OFFICE  AND  POWER  37 

intangible  something  which  is  the  essence,  the  mean- 
ing, of  our  so-called  material  body.  It  is  that  which 
gives  motion  and  expression  to  the  elemental  sub- 
stances of  which  our  temporary  bodies  are  composed, 
and  is  in  fact  the  real  body. 

The  seventh  intake  of  Reason,  we  have  seen,  con- 
sists of  its  avenue  of  contact  with  the  Supraconscious, 
that  Infinite  Life  which  indisputably — as  it  is  Omni- 
present— occupies  a  corporeal  body  to  its  fulness.  It 
is  to  what  it  receives  by  this  intake,  which  we  will 
call  Awareness,  that  we  direct  our  attention  in  order 
to  discover  what  may  be  received  by  Reason  to  influ- 
ence its  decision,  which  is  not  a  part  of  memory, 
education,  or  experience — that  is,  in  fact,  outside  the 
reach  of  the  senses.  It  is  evident,  in  considering  the 
Purpose  of  Man,  as  indicated  by  his  progress  and 
capabilities,  that  he  was  Expressed  to  arrive  at  Per- 
fection— not  necessarily  on  this  earthly  plane,  but 
ultimately.  It  is  also  evident  that  this  Perfection  is  to 
be  of  our  own  finding,  and  the  only  means  given  us 
of  arriving  at  Perfection  is  the  full  and  proper  use 
of  our  Reason.  In  nourishing  our  fleshly  bodies  we 
have  to  draw  the  food  and  air  to  us.  In  nourishing 
our  spiritual  bodies  we  draw  in  from  Memory,  and  to 
receive  nourishment  from  the  Infinite  Life  within  us 
we  must  draw  it  into  our  Reason.  This  process  con- 
sists of  a  sincere  desire  to  receive  it.  This  desire 


38  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

can  best  find  its  expression  by  our  mentally  going  into 
Stillness,  there  holding  steadily  the  thought  upon 
which  we  desire  enlightenment  for  a  period  suffi- 
ciently long  to  fix  it  in  our  Consciousness,  and  we 
may  be  sure  that  into  our  Awareness  will  come  that 
which  we  ask.  This  spiritual  nourishment  does  not 
come  suddenly  or  overwhelmingly,  but  the  operation 
of  receiving  it  is  very  similar  to  that  of  breathing. 
In  breathing  we  require  an  intake  of  fresh  air  that  is 
frequent  and  continuous.  In  eating  we  require  food 
less  frequently,  and  in  drawing  upon  the  Supracon- 
sciousness,  which  provides  the  corrective,  a  stimulant, 
we  may  get  along  by  taking  it  less  frequently  than 
we  take  our  food,  but  to  obtain  full  benefit  from  it  we 
should  call  upon  its  Infinite  Rightness  every  time  we 
have  a  question  that  is  at  all  difficult  to  solve.  That 
we  can  and  do  receive  this  nourishment  of  Rightness 
is  the  experience  of  everyone  who  has  Consciously 
tried  it.  All  who  have  sought  it  patiently  and  sin- 
cerely have  found  it.  It  steals  into  the  Consciousness, 
begins  to  dawn  upon  us,  and  suddenly  we  see  new 
Light.  It  is  this  we  call  upon  when  we  "stop  to 
think."  We  really  never  stop  to  think,  because  we 
think  always.  Thinking  and  Living  are  synonymous. 
Thinking  and  Reasoning,  however,  are  not  synonym- 
ous. Thinking  is  a  creative  process,  which  begins 
when  we  reason  that  we  are  right  and  determine  to 


REASON — ITS  OFFICE;  AND  POWER  39 

go  ahead.  Reasoning  is  the  process  of  becoming 
Right.  We  may  consider  ourselves  right  when  we 
are  not,  but  at  this  point  Reasoning  ceases  and  Think- 
ing— action — begins.  This  is  why  it  is  considered  so 
useless  to  argue  with  a  man  who  "knows  it  all" — he 
has  quit  reasoning. 

It  appears,  then,  that  Reason  is  the  Consciousness 
of  Man.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  a  Consciousness 
is  an  Elemental  Indestructible  Thing,  therefore  Rea- 
son, and  consequently  Spiritual  Man,  is  Indestructible, 
though  his  body,  which  consists  of  many  Combina- 
tions, is  therefore  a  Subconsciousness  and  can  be  at 
any  time  dissolved.  Familiarity,  then,  with  the  nour- 
ishment of  our  Spiritual  Bodies  by  the  intake  of 
Awareness  is  of  the  highest  possible  importance,  as 
it  is  upon  that  we  will  have  to  depend  when  we  drop 
these  temporal  bodies  and  continue  our  struggle 
towards  Perfection  on  a  different  plane.  Neither 
must  its  importance  on  this  plane  be  minimized,  for 
by  the  patient  practice  of  drawing  upon  our  Supra- 
conscious — our  Better  Self — whenever  we  feel  our 
reasoning  powers  sluggish  or  inadequate  to  their  task, 
we  may  become  so  proficient  as  to  arrive  at  correct 
conclusions  when  considering  whatever  has  been, 
whatever  is,  or  whatever  is  to  be. 


CHAPTER  III. 
STUDYING  INFINITY — SPIRITUAL  INSIGHT 

We  are  worshippers  rather  than  students  of  Infin- 
ity, and  it  is  not  strange  that  our  ideas  of  its  character- 
istics and  methods  are  nebulous  and  dim.  Those  who 
have  assumed  to  be  the  interpreters  of  the  Expres- 
sions of  Infinity  that  have  been  classified  for  our  use 
are  by  no  means  harmonious.  The  Theologians  who 
assert  that  the  Will  of  the  Infinite  as  regards  Man  is 
completely  and  as  a  finality  expressed  in  Holy  Writ- 
ings, differ  amongst  themselves  as  to  what  this  Will 
is,  but  they  agree  that  Man's  proper  attitude  is  to  be 
on  his  knees  as  a  suppliant  worshipper  rather  than 
gazing  squarely  at  the  Infinite  and  crying  out,  "O 
thou  Infinite,  what  meanest  thou?"  Indeed,  the 
hierarchies  denounce  as  blasphemous  and  sacrilegious 
all  scrutiny  of  the  Infinite  Will  except  as  revealed  in 
Holy  Writings,  and  declare  all  such  questionings  are 
not  only  futile,  but  meriting  and  receiving  damnation 
as  their  only  reward.  Thus  they  exclude  Reason,  not 
only  from  their  councils  but  from  the  inner  workings 
of  their  minds,  declaring  that  we  are  worms  of  the 
dust  and  as  such  have  no  more  right  to  raise  our 


STUDYING  INFINITY — SPIRITUAL  INSIGHT      41 

heads  in  questioning  than  has  the  worm  to  wonder 
why  the  sun  is  at  times  so  intolerably  hot.  They  for- 
get that  Man  alone  of  all  the  Expressions  of  Infinity 
is  endowed  with  Reason,  and  that  while  the  worm  is 
given  instinct  by  which  it  unerringly  finds  its  proper 
environment,  Man  must  use  his  Reason  to  find  a  suit- 
able condition,  or  perish.  Surely  the  Theologians  do 
not  assume  that  Man  has  been  gifted  with  something 
less  godlike  than  other  creatures,  yet  how  else  can 
they  blame  him  for  seeking  to  know  the  Infinite  law 
in  order  that  he  may  conform  to  it  and  escape  the 
consequences  of  ignorance?  Scientific  interpreters  oi 
the  Expressions  of  Infinity  to  be  found  in  Nature  go 
to  the  other  extreme,  and  as  a  school  deny  that  there 
is  anything  but  human  Reason  to  guide  the  human 
mind  in  its  search  for  truth,  thus  excluding  Infinity 
from  their  equations  and  denying  the  existence  of 
spiritual  insight,  which,  as  is  clearly  shown  elsewhere, 
is  possessed  by  every  human  mind  and  to  be  released 
for  the  seeking.  One  thing  only  have  these  two 
classes  of  school  men  in  common — that  Infinity  is  too 
Great  to  be  examined.  Both  have  been  estopped  by 
the  mathematical  fact  that  the  less  cannot  compre- 
hend the  greater.  They  forget  that  mathematics  deals 
only  with  quantities,  not  with  qualities;  that  while  we 
cannot  compute  the  size  of  Infinity,  we  can  very 
profitably  examine  its  qualities.  While  Theologians 


42  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

are  thus  appalled  by  Immensity,  they  forget  that  they 
become  Materialists  in  thinking  of  Infinity  as  some- 
thing of  Size  and  having  a  habitation.  The  moment 
we  give  size  and  space  to  Infinity  we  limit  it,  and  it 
ceases  to  be  Infinite.  The  Infinite  can  have  no 
boundaries,  for  beyond  those  boundaries,  whether  we 
picture  them  as  the  outlines  of  a  body,  as  a  fence,  a 
wall,  a  bank  of  stars,  there  must  be  something,  for 
the  mind  cannot  picture  Nothing.  Thus  it  is  to  be 
seen  that  an  anthropomorphic  Infinity — an  Infinity 
built  after  the  fashion  of  physical  Man — is  nothing 
better  than  an  idol,  though  it  is  an  idol  that  has  been 
fondly  cherished  for  many  centuries.  Heaven,  too, 
as  a  locality,  cannot  be  the  residence  of  Infinity  and 
the  Blessed,  as  such  a  statement  is  a  contradiction  of 
terms,  for  we  are  all  agreed  that  the  Infinite  is  Omni- 
present, and  being  everywhere  cannot  be  localized. 
This  contradiction  of  terms  is  as  evident  as  it  would 
be  to  refer  to  a  motor  car  going  both  ways  at  once. 
However,  we  are  all  image-makers  and  have  become 
so  habituated  to  thinking  in  terms  of  Time  and  Space 
that  we  become  overawed,  stupefied,  by  images  of  our 
own  creation.  This  is  not  the  condition  of  mind 
of  a  student,  but  of  a  fanatic.  When  we  learn  to  look 
at  spiritual  things  from  a  spiritual  point  of  view  only, 
our  Reason  shows  us  that  they  are  images  of  clay 
and  disappear.  When  we  realize  in  its  fulness  in  our 


STUDYING  INFINITY — SPIRITUAL  INSIGHT      43 

image-making  what  the  Theologians  teach  in  its 
limited  sense,  that  we  were  created  or  expressed  as 
images  of  our  Creator,  we  find  supreme  comfort  in 
thinking  of  the  likeness  we  bear  to  Infinity.  It  can- 
not be  that  we  are  the  images  of  the  Infinite  in  a 
bodily  sense,  for  it  is  gross  idolatry  to  think  of  the 
Infinite  having  a  body  like  ours — personal  to  itself — 
an  exaggeration,  as  it  were,  of  one  of  us  in  bodily 
size,  power,  passion  and  goodness.  If  we  are  images 
of  Infinity  in  any  sense  it  is  in  the  spiritual  one.  To 
find  the  fullest  likeness,  then,  by  induction,  we  must 
divest  ourselves  of  our  fleshly  bodies.  But  before 
doing  this  let  us  consider  ourselves  as  we  are. 

All  Expressed  Life  is  intensely  egoistic.  Each  atom, 
each  combination  of  atoms,  whether  simple  or  com- 
plex, regards  itself  as  the  center  of  Life,  and  moved 
by  the  Infinite  Urge  works  on  that  basis.  This  Ego- 
ism, then,  is  an  Expression  of  Infinity,  and  as  we  can 
clearly  see  must  characterize  Infinity  itself,  which  is 
the  real  center  of  all  Life.  So  strongly  is  this  devel- 
oped that  every  atom  resists  everything  not  itself, 
except  when  moved  into  combinations  by  the  Infinite 
Urge,  which  invariably  respects  its  own  creative  fiat 
and  never  attempts  to  coerce  the  Consciousness 
brought  into  being  by  itself.  The  expression  of  this 
Egoism  is  seen  in  the  liking  shown  by  everything  for 
its  own  kind,  thus  accounting  for  the  great  masses  of 


44  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

air,  water,  earth,  rock,  etc.  In  the  animal  and  veg- 
etable kingdoms  it  is  the  same,  and  in  Man,  the  most 
complex  being,  it  is  most  highly  developed.  We  all 
like  that  which  likes  US.  We  like  our  horse,  our 
dog,  all  our  pets,  because  they  like  US.  We  like  the 
clothing  that  becomes  US,  that  is,  that  comes  to  be  a 
part  of  US  in  appearance  and  comfort.  The  customer 
at  a  milliner's  will  refuse  many  more  beautiful  crea- 
tions and  select  one  that  becomes  HER,  thus  making 
herself  the  center  of  beauty  in  that  respect.  We  like 
our  families  because  they  are  a  part  of  US.  We  like 
our  religious  denomination  because  the  people  belong- 
ing to  it  think  with  US.  For  the  same  reason  we 
belong  to  political  and  other  societies.  We  like  our 
nationality  and  our  race  and  language  because  of  their 
likeness  to  US.  We  do  not  kill  and  eat  our  fellow 
men,  because  they  are  so  like  US.  We  are  kind  and 
considerate  to  our  fellow  creatures  and  animal  com- 
panions in  so  far  as  we  are  moved  by  the  feeling  that 
they  are  like  US.  Our  judgment  of  beauty  and 
music,  sculpture,  painting,  architecture,  landscape, 
writing,  is  on  the  basis  of  it  pleasing  US,  though  we 
may  sometimes  affect  to  admire  that  which  it  is  the 
fashion  to  consider  beautiful.  Our  family,  religious, 
business,  political  life  is  on  the  basis  of  what  is  good 
for  US.  What  does  not  appear  possibly  to  belong 
to  US  or  to  be  good  for  US  is  left  out  of  our  calcu- 


STUDYING  INFINITY — SPIRITUAL  INSIGHT      45 

lations.  There  are  many  people  so  miserably  situated 
that  they  would  be  willing  to  exchange  conditions 
with  almost  anybody  else,  but  if  we  tried  to  think  of 
anyone  who  would  accept  this  change  at  the  cost  of 
the  loss  of  his  or  her  identity  we  would  fail.  If  the  beg- 
gar were  offered  the  millions  of  the  magnate  on  condi- 
tion that  he  would  cease  to  be  himself  and  become  the 
magnate,  he  would  refuse,  saying,  "What  good  would 
that  be  to  ME  ?  It  would  be  the  end  of  ME."  It  is 
doubtful,  if  the  most  devout  and  orthodox  Christian 
were  to  be  offered  a  traditional  seat  under  the  tradi- 
tional Tree  of  Life  near  the  traditional  Great  White 
Throne  at  once,  on  condition  that  he  drop  his  iden- 
tity and  become  an  angel,  whether  he  would  not  re- 
fuse, preferring  rather  to  stay  Here  a  little  longer 
and  take  his  chances  of  getting  There  on  some  other 
terms.  It  is  thus  seen  that  Egoism  is  an  Infinite 
impulse,  and  must  govern  us  in  studying  Infinity.  It 
accounts  for  the  universal  worship,  in  some  form,  of 
Infinity.  Man  has  always  felt  in  a  more  or  less  vague 
way  that  he  was  a  part  of  Infinity  and  Infinity  was  a 
part  of  him.  What  part,  and  how  this  part  was 
related  to  Infinity,  he  has  seemed  to  be  unable  to 
discover  except  by  special  revelation.  That  these 
revelations,  vague  as  they  may  have  been  in  their 
character,  indistinct  as  they  may  have  been  in  their 
outline  and  detail,  have  come  to  him  through  various 


46  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

gifted  men,  cannot  be  denied,  nor  can  these  revela- 
tions be  overlooked  in  a  study  such  as  this.  It  must 
be  remembered,  however,  that  all  such  revelations 
have  and  can  come  only  through  the  ordinary  channel 
of  Reason,  in  pursuance  of  a  changeless  scheme ;  we 
can  only  judge  of  their  fulness  and  finality  by  the 
perfection  of  their  workings;  if  they  have  not 
brought  about  that  which  seems  to  be  their  purpose  we 
must  consider  them  incomplete,  misunderstood,  or 
faulty.  Nor  are  we  to  be  confined  as  to  what  are 
the  revelations,  or  as  to  who  has  done  the  revealing, 
to  the  sacred  writings  and  writers  canonized  by  the 
various  hierarchies  as  such.  By  Reason  alone  can  we 
judge  of  the  value  of  anything,  and  as  Reason  has 
been  shown  to  be  the  highest  expression  of  Infinity  it 
surely  must  be  a  safe  court  in  which  to  try  every- 
thing. 

Now  let  us  proceed  on  the  basis  of  Universal  Ego- 
ism to  compare  ourselves  as  spiritual  beings  with 
Infinity.  Divested  of  our  fleshly  bodies  we  are  re- 
moved from  the  at  present  unceasing  task  of  keeping 
them  nourished,  warmed,  sheltered  and  clad.  The 
grinding  struggle  of  providing  these  things  is  ap- 
parently the  principal  source  of  the  evils  which  beset 
mankind.  If  we  were  freed  from  this  struggle  on 
this  plane,  what  would  we  do  ?  If  it  were  not  for  the 
Infinite  Urge  we  would  probably  all  lie  down  and 


STUDYING  INFINITY — SPIRITUAL  INSIGHT      47 

go  to  sleep.  It  is  certain  that  on  the  next  plane  of 
our  progress  we  shall  be  relieved  of  the  necessity  of 
maintaining  fleshly  bodies  which  shall  have  disappeared. 
What  we  shall  do  as  we  keep  up  the  struggle  for  Per- 
fection is  the  subject  of  speculation  in  a  later  chapter. 
Here  it  is  only  necessary  to  consider  what  we  shall 
be.  This  can  be  arrived  at  by  considering  what  will 
remain  after  our  fleshly  bodies  have  been  abandoned. 
We  shall  still  have  the  spiritual  body,  of  which  our 
earthly  body  was  only  the  Expression  to  afford  us 
contact  with  the  things  of  Time  and  Space  as  mani- 
fested Here  and  Now.  That  Time  and  Space  will 
disappear  after  we  abandon  our  earthly  bodies  is  a 
popular  misconception.  Our  spiritual  bodies  are  of 
Constricted  Life,  and  though  less  dense  must  occupy 
Space  and  have  dimensions,  and  where  Space  exists 
there  Time  must  be.  That  our  spiritual  bodies  are 
any  different  in  size  or  shape  from  our  earthly  bodies 
cannot  be  shown.  Any  body  we  possess  is  to  us  what 
our  Consciousness  considers  it.  As  on  this  plane  a 
man  cannot  be  conscious  of  being  tall  when  he  knows 
himself  to  be  short,  or  fat  when  everyone  as  well  as 
himself  knows  he  is  lean,  so  the  Consciousness  which 
expressed  itself  in  the  body  we  have  here  will  express 
the  same  identity  in  the  spiritual  body.  Admitting 
that  the  spiritual  body  has  size  and  shape,  as  it  must 
to  retain  the  identity  fixed  in  its  Consciousness,  we 


48  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

find  ourselves  inhabiting  Space  exactly  as  we  do  now, 
except  without  earthly  bodies  or  the  necessity  of  sus- 
taining them.  It  must  be  so,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
violation  of  the  creative  fiat  of  Egoism.  In  view  of 
this,  it  must  be  seen  that  any  comparison  we  make  of 
ourselves  with  Infinity  must  contain  the  Egoism  of 
our  size  and  shape,  and  that  the  Infinite  to  US  and 
for  US  must  have  that  size  and  shape,  and  when  we 
scrutinize  this  we  find  that  it  is  only  as  it  should  be. 
All  the  Infinite  we  can  conceive  for  us  is  that  which 
is  within  us.  Our  Consciousness  must  always  be  the 
size  and  quality  of  our  Infinity  to  us.  The  perfection 
we  can  conceive,  as  with  the  most  perfect  environ- 
ment we  can  arrive  at,  is  our  highest  ideal  of  Perfec- 
tion, and  in  projecting  this  ideal  as  our  conception  of 
the  qualities  of  Infinity  we  are  projecting  all  that  is 
or  can  be  in  us.  We  cannot  do  more.  If  we  do  less 
we  are  presuming  that  Infinity  is  not  as  good  as  we 
might  be  if  in  its  place.  How  good  can  we  conceive 
ourselves  to  be?  If  situated  as  Infinity  is,  possessed 
of  all  things,  we  would  be  without  avarice,  envy, 
jealousy,  or  fear.  Having  arrived  at  conscious  Per- 
fection we  would  be  ambitious  to  go  no  higher.  Pos- 
sessing all  knowledge,  we  could  desire  to  know  no 
more.  The  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness  will  make  us 
love  everything,  hate  nothing,  eager  only  that  every- 
thing, everybody,  be  equally  perfect  and  happy.  This 


STUDYING  INFINITY — SPIRITUAL  INSIGHT      49 

certainly  cannot  be  considered  a  debased  ideal  of 
Infinity,  as  it  is  the  best  that  can  possibly  exist  in  the 
best  as  well  as  the  worst  of  us.  It  brings  Infinity 
nearer  to  us,  as  it  shows  that  we  may  and  shall  be 
infinitely  good,  never  perhaps  on  this  experiential 
plane,  but  certainly  upon  that  plane  to  which  our 
Infinitely  Urged  progress  is  taking  us.  Thus,  con- 
sider it  from  what  point  we  may,  Man's  ideal  of  the 
qualities  of  Infinity  are  those  of  his  perfect  self.  So 
it  is  through  all  the  Thinking  Universe,  each  Con- 
sciousness obeying  the  laws  of  Infinity  as  the  laws  of 
its  Perfect  Self.  Man  alone  reasons  and  must  find 
his  own  Rightness.  Until  he  finds  this  perfect  Right- 
ness  he  will  not  be  perfectly  happy;  i.  e.,  he  will  not 
be  in  harmony  with  his  environment.  Examining  his 
progress  by  the  light  afforded  us  by  history  and 
science,  we  find  how  greatly  Reason  has  widened  his 
horizon.  In  his  conception  of  Infinity,  consider  how 
far  we  have  traveled  from  the  Israelitish  ideal!  To 
the  Hebrews  the  Infinite  was  their  God  and  the  God 
of  nobody  and  nothing  else.  This  was  the  narrow 
Egoism  of  all  the  peoples  of  the  world  at  the  time. 
It  found  voice  in  the  prophets,  who,  speaking  for 
Jehovah,  cried,  "I  am  the  Lord  thy  God.  There  is  no 
other  God  before  me.  I  am  a  jealous  God."  Now  it 
is  dawning  tftat  the  God,  the  Good,  the  Infinite,  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  enlarged  twenty  centuries 


50  TH£   THINKING  UNIVERSE 

ago  to  be  the  God,  the  Good,  the  Infinite  of  the  Gen- 
tiles as  well,  has  again  enlarged  to  be  the  God,  the 
Good,  the  Infinite,  the  Father  of  everybody,  of  every- 
thing that  is,  the  Mind  of  the  Thinking  Universe. 

It  is  here  we  find  ourselves  thus  early  in  this  study : 
In  quality  the  Infinite  is  our  perfect  selves.  In  quan- 
tity— we  must  think  of  numbers  in  terms  of  Time  and 
Space — Infinity  can  be  and  is  countless  billions  of 
billions  of  perfect  selves  of  every  species,  class,  and 
variety.  Insomuch  as  the  Infinite  is  Omnipresent  it 
is  everywhere,  always  in  everything,  and  in  everything 
is  that  thing's  ideal  of  Perfection.  Now  let  us  turn 
to  an  examination  of  the  wonders  of  its  workings. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


INFINITE  LIFE  AND  THE  BEGINNING  OF  ITS 
EXPRESSIONS 

The  origin  of  Life  does  not  concern  us,  as  we  can- 
not know  of  it.  The  human  mind  cannot  conceive  of 
the  condition  of  Nothingness,  which  must  have  pre- 
ceded Life  if  anything  could  have  preceded  it.  We 
must  all  instantly  admit  that  nothing  appears  in  re- 
sponse to  our  mental  search  for  anything  that  could 
have  been  prior  to  Life,  Mind.  It  is  not  within  us. 
But  Infinity  is  within  us,  and  therefore  we  must  rea- 
son that  knowledge  of  its  origin  is  not  within  Infinity 
itself,  that  it  did  not  begin,  that  it  has  always  been. 
The  same  line  of  reasoning  leads  us  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  cannot  and  will  not  end,  that  it  always  will  be. 
Speculations,  therefore,  with  regard  to  the  origin  of 
Life  must  always  be  fruitless  except  in  weakening  the 
mind  that  attempts  them.  Though  our  minds  cannot 
grasp  a  condition  of  nothingness,  they  can  grasp  a 
condition  when  there  was  only  one  thing  —  Life,  Mind. 
Accepting  this  condition  as  our  first  possible  premise, 
let  us  examine  it  before  proceeding  to  find  the  minor 
premise.  It  is  well  described  by  the  Hebrew  seer  as 


52  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

the  universe  ''without  form  and  without  void,"  that  is, 
nothing  had  taken  shape,  yet  there  was  no  emptiness, 
Mind  being  All  of  it,  Everywhere.  It  was,  as  it  is, 
Indivisible,  for  there  was  nothing  to  divide,  there 
being  no  dimensions,  as  there  cannot  be  where  there 
is  no  Thing.  It  was,  as  it  is,  Immobile,  there  being 
no  place  for  it  to  go.  It  was  its  own  Positive,  its 
own  Negative,  the  Absolute.  We  can  conceive  of  no 
Mind  desiring  to  be  Alone.  We  know  of  no  Mind  so 
great  that  it  does  not  desire  companionship.  To  pro- 
cure this  companionship  Infinite  Mind  expressed  it- 
self, exactly  how  or  when  we  are  not  sufficiently 
developed  to  find  out.  Our  Reason,  seeking  the  first 
Expression  and  founding  our  judgment  upon  the 
necessities  of  the  case,  concludes  that  Life,  acting  and 
re-acting  within  its  Positive  and  Negative  self,  pro- 
duced motion  controlled  by  the  Positive,  by  these 
vibrations  of  varying  degrees  of  velocity  forming 
constrictions  or  vortices  of  its  Negative  self,  and 
these  constrictions,  dense  or  volatile  according  to  their 
vibrations,  constituted  what  we  designate  as  "Matter." 
Science  teaches  us  that  these  Expressions  were  made 
in  their  simplest  form,  and  are  known  as  Elemental 
Atoms,  between  eighty  and  ninety  of  which  have  been 
discovered  by  research.  This  theory  of  the  original 
Expression  appears  reasonable.  By  beginning  with 
the  protoplasm,  Infinite  Mind  has  been  continuously 


INFINITE  LIFE — BEGINNING  OF  ITS  EXPRESSIONS  53 

occupied  and  interested  by  Development,  as  it  would 
not  have  been  had  everything  at  once  made  its  ap- 
pearance in  its  most  perfect  form.  It  thus  appears 
that  from  the  conditions  we  find  today,  Expressed 
Things  are  the  Negative  side  of  Infinite  Life,  as  they 
are  all  in  motion.  Impelled  by  the  Infinite  Urge, 
every  elemental  atom  is  seeking  perfection  by  effect- 
ing combinations,  these  combinations  seeking  further 
combinations,  and  these  combinations  seeking  still 
further  complexity  of  Expression.  The  movements 
of  these  atoms  in  continually  readjusting  themselves 
cause  what  we  designate  vibrations.  As  has  already 
been  pointed  out,  the  presence  within  Infinite  Life  of 
things  having  dimensions  introduced  the  element  of 
Space,  which  is  not  infinite,  but  the  relativity  of  one 
object  to  another.  The  movement  of  these  things  in 
their  readjustments  introduced  the  element  of  Time, 
which  is  but  our  method  of  reckoning  the  number  of 
vibrations  necessary  to  convey  a  thing  from  one  local- 
ity to  another.  So  long  as  Expressed  Life  remains 
in  existence,  Time  and  Space  must  be,  though  our 
conceptions  will  always  be  relative  to  the  number  of 
vibrations  they  require  in  their  movements.  Thus 
when  the  bodies  we  possess  become  finer  in  our  devel- 
opment we  shall  move  with  the  velocity  of  thought, 
though  we  shall  never  be  able  to  escape  entirely  from 
our  consciousness  of  being  a  thing  with  dimensions. 


54  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

Indeed,  we  never  will  desire  this,  for  it  would  mean 
the  loss  of  our  identity. 

The  points  you  are  desired  to  hold  as  established 
until  further  evidence  is  adduced  are  these :' 

That  Infinite  Mind  is  Positive,  Immobile,  Indivisi- 
ble, the  Absolute ; 

That  Expressed  Mind  is  Negative,  and  controlled 
by  the  Positive.  It  is  composed  of  the  Elemental 
Consciousnesses,  which  are  Indestructible.  The  Sub- 
consciousnesses  into  which  these  elemental  atoms  are 
formed  by  combinations  are  temporary,  being  formed 
and  dissolved  by  the  Infinite  Urge  to  progress  and 
development ; 

That  all  things  are,  always  have  been,  and  always 
will  be — Mind,  the  only  Creative  Element. 

The  last  point,  that  everything  is  Mind,  may  as 
well  be  finally  dealt  with  at  once.  When  Mind  was 
alone  there  could  have  been  nothing  else.  In  its 
creative  or  expressional  efforts  it  had  nothing  but 
Itself  as  material,  no  tool  but  Motion.  Since  then 
nothing  has  been  imported  into  Life,  as  there  is  no- 
where to  bring  it  from,  Life  being  everywhere  and 
everything  always.  Therefore  everything  has  con- 
tinued to  be,  and  is  now,  Life,  Mind;  in  various 
degrees  of  activity,  it  is  true.  These  various  degrees 
of  activity  in  themselves  are  Mind,  directed  by  Mind, 


INFINITE;  LiF£ — BEGINNING  OF  ITS  EXPRESSIONS  55 

never  under  any  circumstances  or  conditions  becoming 
anything  but  Mind,  always  acting  and  re-acting  as 
Mind. 

This  is  becoming  quite  generally  recognized  by 
scientists,  who  in  their  researches  by  inductive  rea- 
soning reach  the  same  conclusion — that  everything  is 
Mind.  These  scientists  have  found  some  eighty  or 
ninety  elementary  consciousnesses  in  the  world,  which 
by  their  various  partnerships  and  combinations  have 
formed  themselves  into  the  varied  Expressions  of  Life 
we  see  about  us.  They  have  traced  some  of  these 
atoms,  these  consciousnesses,  far  beyond  the  range  of 
vision,  to  where  they  measure  one  fifty-millionth  part 
of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  can  have  an  existence  as 
entities  only  in  our  mind.  No  scientist  has  yet  at- 
tempted to  weigh  or  measure  the  atoms  of  which 
Mind  is  composed,  and  it  may  be  reasonably  con- 
cluded that  there  are  no  such  atoms,  Infinite  Life 
being  indivisible,  and  that  the  so-called  material  atoms 
finally  disappear  into  the  essence  of  Thought,  of 
Mind.  It  is  here  contended  that  when  the  point  is 
arrived  at  that  the  atom  has  its  sole  entity  in  the 
mind  it  becomes  a  Mind  atom,  and  therefore  can  by  no 
one  be  considered  as  anything  but  Mind.  To  hesitate 
further  in  calling  everything  Mind  and  assuming  Mind 
to  be  the  only  creative  element  would  seem  to  be 
merely  materialistic  and  scientific  pedantry. 


56  THS  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

It  being  admitted  that  everything  is  Mind,  Positive 
or  Negative,  it  follows  that  Unexpressed  Mind,  the 
Mind  that  did  the  expressing,  is  Positive,  as  the  Posi- 
tive is  superior  to  the  Negative  as  the  Expressor  is 
superior  to  the  Expression.  As  the  Positive  it  must 
be  in  a  state  of  Equilibrium.  Indeed,  it  is  impossible 
to  conceive  of  that  which  is  Everything,  Everywhere, 
Always,  moving  when  it  has  no  place  in  which  to 
move.  This  must  be  apparent  to  the  dullest  sense. 
When  we  survey  the  heavens  and  the  earth  every- 
thing appears  in  a  state  of  majestic  stillness,  Poise. 
The  idea  of  perpetually  being  on  the  move  conveys 
a  repellent  sense  of  fussiness  to  our  conception  of  the 
Supreme,  Superb  control  of  the  Infinite.  Science 
confirms  this  view  of  Life,  even  while  affirming  that 
All  Life  is  motion.  It  is  known  that  the  center  of  the 
cyclone  is  perfectly  still,  the  Point  of  Poise,  the  Infi- 
nite. The  absolute  center  of  the  huge  driving  wheel 
is  perfectly  still ;  though  microscopic  in  its  dimen- 
sions it,  too,  is  the  Point  of  Poise  from  which  power 
radiates. 

Writers  and  teachers  on  Dynamics  are  careful  to 
show  that  when  motion,  when  started  from  a  given 
point,  is  deflected,  the  point  of  its  deflection  may  in  a 
diagram  be  indicated  by  a  dot  of  pencil  or  ink  as 
showing  the  instant  of  time  that  the  deflection  takes 
place.  But  this  "instant  of  time"  is  not  an  "interval 


INFINITE  LIFE  —  BEGINNING  OF  ITS  EXPRESSIONS    57 


of  time,"  being  miscroscopic  in  its  so-called  dimen- 
sions ;  that  is,  when  a  ball  thrown  in  a  certain  direc- 
tion is  struck  by  a  bat  and  deflected,  the  instant  of 
time  during  which  the  deflection  takes  place  is  not 
computable,  no  interval  of  time  that  can  be  detected 
taking  place.  Thus  it  is  seen  that  when  the  power 
propelling  the  ball  in  one  direction  is  changed  to  a 
power  propelling  it  in  a  different  direction,  a  moment 
of  stillness  takes  place,  even  though  it  is  indistin- 
guishable as  an  interval  of  time. 

Infinite  Life  being  Omnipresent,  it  is  everywhere 
the  center  of  all  movement.  If  it  were  not  so,  the 
Universe,  in  popular  phrase,  would  "go  to  smash." 
Infinite  Life,  then,  does  not  act;  it  causes  and  con- 
trols action;  it  is  the  Ultimate  Cause.  This  attitude 
is  the  secret  of  power.  In  Man  this  equilibrium,  this 
faculty  of  causing  and  organizing  action,  is  what 
makes  him  powerful.  As  will  be  seen  later  on,  his 
organization  is  a  duplication  on  a  small  scale  of  the 
organization  of  the  Universe,  spiritual  Man  being  the 
Positive  and  his  so-called  more  material  expressions 
the  Negative.  The  man  who  always  finds  his  bal- 
ance, his  poise,  before  he  attempts  to  act,  is  the 
strong  man. 

Following  the  same  line  of  reasoning  we  find  Nega- 
tive Life,  Expressed  Life,  doing  absolutely  what  it  was 
expressed  to  do,  Man  alone  apparently  being  the  ex- 


58  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

ception,  he  alone  having  the  gift  of  Reason,  the 
faculty  of  finding  his  own  Rightness.  Expressed 
Life  is  a  pure  democracy,  a  Government  by  the  con- 
sent of  the  Governed ;  it  being  Mind,  it  Thinks  and 
has  a  Will,  but  it  always  Thinks  and  Wills  as  it  was 
intended  by  Positive  Life  that  it  should  Think  and 
Will,  except  in  Reasoning  Man.  We  find  this  in  its 
instant  obedience  to  all  the  physical  laws  that  science 
has  discovered.  The  stone  thrown  into  the  air  drops 
to  the  ground  in  obedience  not  only  to  the  will  of  the 
governor,  but  of  the  governed. 

Let  us  always  bear  as  distinctly  and  strongly  in 
mind  as  possible  that  Infinite  Life  is  motionless, 
while  causing  all  motion ;  that  it  is  without  substance, 
consistency,  while  causing  all  so-called  substance; 
that  while  being  of  no  substance  it  is  indivisible,  that 
is,  incapable  of  being  divided  into  segments ;  that  so- 
called  substances  pass  through  Infinite  Life  without 
the  slightest  resistance.  As  it  is  of  primary  import- 
ance that  you  should  be  clear  on  this  point,  let  us 
illustrate  it.  You  pass  a  large  tube  open  at  both 
ends  through  water,  and  it  meets  with  slight  resist- 
ance, the  water  passing  in  and  through  the  tube  and 
out  of  the  other  end  of  it  without  obstruction.  All 
the  resistance  found  is  that  caused  by  the  substance 
of  the  tube  itself  displacing  a  small  amount  of  water. 
A  ton  of  steel  passing  through  Infinite  Life  would  not 


LIFE — BEGINNING  OF  ITS  EXPRESSIONS    59 

cause  the  slightest  displacement,  as  the  Infinite  Life 
would  occupy  the  steel  as  easily  and  completely  as 
if  the  space  apparently  taken  up  by  the  steel  were 
empty.  The  importance  of  this  point  is  that  the 
reader  shall  at  no  time  be  misled  by  the  thought  that 
he  or  she  contains  and  carries  about  with  him  or  her 
a  segment  of  Infinite  Life.  No  matter  where  you  go, 
the  body  you  are  conscious  of  is  always  filled  with 
Infinite  Life,  but  as  you  move  about  it  remains  where 
it  was  when  it  was  in  you,  but  you  are  still  and 
always  full  of  Infinite  Life.  It  is  Expressed  Life 
which  you  carry  about  with  you  and  is  especially 
yours,  though  the  Infinite  Life  in  you  is  yours,  and  is 
the  Infinite  YOU.  It  may  seem  to  you  that  you  are 
continually  changing  the  Infinite  Life  within  you  as 
you  move  about.  It  would  be  so  if  it  were  a  sub- 
stance, but  as  it  is  not  a  substance  you  cannot  speak 
of  the  Infinite  Life  that  is  in  you  at  this  moment  as 
being  different  from  the  Infinite  Life  that  was  in  you 
when  you  were  a  mile  away,  as  everywhere  and 
always  Infinite  Life  is  absolutely  the  same.  Your 
corpse  will  be  as  full  of  Infinite  Life  as  your  healthy 
body  now  is,  urging  the  disintegration  of  the  useless 
tissue  as  it  urged  through  your  Expressed  Life  your 
operative  tissue  to  perfect  action.  While  your  corpse 
is  still  filled  with  Infinite  Life,  your  unsensuous,  or 
spirit,  body  which  has  moved  away  from  its  earthly 


60  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

tenement  will  be  just  as  full  of  Infinite  Life  as  was 
your  former  sensuous  body,  and  it  will  be  just  as 
much  you,  the  Infinite  you,  as  it  was  the  Infinite  you 
when  you  were  in  the  flesh.  In  following  this 
thought  do  not  lose  the  identity  of  your  perfect 
spiritual  body — the  Infinite  Life  within  you.  It  is  the 
real  YOU,  and  is  constricted  in  its  operations  in  con- 
nection with  you  by  your  Consciousness  as  much  as 
if  it  had  always  been  a  segment  of  Infinite  Life — if 
such  a  thing  were  possible — and  had  always  existed  in 
you  as  you.  By  this  you  will  understand  that  the 
Infinite  Life  within  you,  your  perfect  spiritual  body, 
only  affects  you  as  it  is  called  upon  by  your  Conscious- 
ness, your  Reason.  That  the  Infinite  Life  in  your 
corpse  works  disintegration  and  decay  instead  of  urg- 
ing it  to  upbuilding  and  progress,  is  because  your 
Consciousness  and  Subconsciousness  have  removed 
themselves  from  the  disused  body  and  no  longer  direct 
the  working  of  the  Infinite  Life  within  it,  and  the 
Infinite  Life  proceeds  with  the  residue,  the  corpse,  as 
if  you  had  never  lived  in  it.  This  is  in  pursuance  of 
the  unchangeable  order  of  things,  that  combinations 
called  Subconsciousnesses  are  subject  to  disintegration 
in  order  that  the  so-called  material  of  which  they  are 
composed  can  be  freed  for  the  nourishment  of  other 
Expressions  which  have  not  become  morbid. 


CHAPTER  V. 

POSITIVE  AND  NEGATIVE  LIFE — POWER  AND  ITS 
EXPRESSIONS 

There  cannot  be  two  Infinites — if  there  were,  one 
would  be  greater  than  the  other,  or  they  would  be 
equal.  If  one  were  less  than  the  other,  the  lesser  one 
could  not  be  Infinite,  because  it  could  not  control  the 
greater.  If  two  were  equal,  neither  could  be  Infinite 
if  one  could  not  control  the  other.  Why,  then,  some 
may  ask,  speak  of  Positive  and  Negative  Lift?  What 
we  cannot  consider  in  terms  of  Time  and  Space  can- 
not be  considered.  We  have  already  thought  of  Life 
having  been  Alone,  of  its  possession  of  everything,  in- 
cluding Positive  and  Negative  qualities,  then  Unex- 
pressed. Until  Expressed  neither  of  these  qualities 
had  a  name,  as  neither  existed  separate  from  the 
other.  How  Life  polarized  itself  and  expressed  its 
Negative  quality  must  remain  in  the  same  shroud  of 
mystery  as  the  origin  of  Life  itself.  That  it  did  so  is 
evident,  or  there  would  have  been  nothing,  and  con- 
sequently nothing  would  have  been  Positive,  nothing 
Negative,  in  this  so-called  material  world.  As  every- 
thing has  its  Positive  and  Negative,  we  know  that 


62  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

such  an  Expression  was  made.  In  order  not  to  con- 
fuse ourselves  in  considering  the  subject,  we  adhere 
to  the  nomenclature  in  ordinary  use  in  discussing  the 
two  extremes,  calling  Expressed  Life  the  Negative,  and 
Unexpressed  Life  the  Positive.  They  are  in  no  sense 
both  Infinite,  Positive  Life  indisputably  dominating 
the  Negative ;  therefore  we  are  in  the  presence  of  the 
Infinite  and  its  First  Expression.  In  considering  the 
question  of  Power  and  its  origin  we  may  as  well  in 
advance  meet  a  similar  objection  which  may  occur  to 
minds  given  to  superfine  criticism.  Life,  being  Infi- 
nite, can  have  no  dimensions,  and  that  without  dimen- 
sions cannot  have  extremes.  The  Positive  and  Nega- 
tive poles  are  extremes,  therefore  Life  cannot  have 
extremes  and  cannot  have  poles.  This  would  appear 
to  be  an  unanswerable  argument  if  mathematics  could 
be  applied  to  the  qualities  as  well  as  to  the  extent  of 
Life.  We  know  that  Infinite  Life  has  no  dimensions, 
but  we  know  that  it  has  the  qualities  out  of  which 
things  of  dimensions  arose;  therefore  we  must  con- 
sider it,  if  we  consider  it  at  all,  as  always  possessing 
the  Extremes — the  poles — necessary  to  the  expression 
of  Power. 

Power  is  not  Infinite,  but  an  expression  of  the  Infi- 
nite. Having  its  origin  in  the  Infinite,  it  of  course 
always  proceeds  from  and  is  directed  by  the  Law,  the 
Urge,  of  the  Infinite.  In  other  words,  power  must 


POSITIVE  AND  NEGATIVE:  LIFE)  63 

radiate  as  Motion,  from  a  center  of  Stillness.  As  it 
would  be  absurd  to  try  to  think  of  a  thing  going  in 
two  directions  at  once,  and  as  there  is  no  universal 
sameness  of  motion  as  to  direction,  therefore  there 
must  always  be  a  point  separating  motion  in  one  direc- 
tion from  motion  in  a  different  direction  on  the  same 
line  and  the  same  plane.  This  center  is  Stillness — 
the  Infinite.  When  two  bodies  in  motion  on  the  same 
line  and  the  same  plane  meet,  there  is  a  demonstra- 
tion of  power.  For  instance,  when  a  baseball  thrown 
through  the  air  is  struck  by  a  bat  a  demonstration  is 
made,  and  which  was  Positive  power  is  shown  by 
Appearances.  The  ball  deflects,  or  flies  back  towards 
the  sender,  and  Appearances  show  that  the  demon- 
stration has  proved  the  power  in  the  bat  to  be  Positive 
and  that  in  the  ball  to  be  Negative.  Should  the 
metallic  ball  projected  by  a  heavily  charged  piece  of 
artillery  strike  the  bat,  it  would  demonstrate  that  it 
was  propelled  by  Positive  power.  The  elaboration  of 
this  point  will  find  its  place  in  the  chapters  on  Mental 
Healing,  where  it  will  be  shown  that  the  human  mind 
made  Positive  by  Rightness  can  project  itself  to  a 
point  of  lesion  in  the  human  body  and  cause  a  demon- 
stration such  as  the  projecting  mind  desires,  the 
demonstration  being  instantly  and  completely  as  de- 
sired, or  slowly  and  incompletely  accomplished,  ac- 
cording to  the  Positivity  of  the  mind  projecting  the 


64  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

thought.  All  thoughts  are  things,  all  things  are 
thoughts,  made  "material"  by  the  application  of  power. 
The  painter's  picture  is  a  Thing  in  his  mind  before  it 
is  put  upon  the  canvas,  and  its  perfection  as  a  painting 
depends  upon  the  power  he  puts  into  it — the  power  of 
conception  and  execution.  Electricity,  subtle  as  it  is, 
is  tangible  and  can  be  used  as  an  illustration  of  the 
operations  of  Mind  Force.  At  one  time  electric 
phenomena  were  regarded  with  awe  and  terror  because 
the  meaning  and  uses  of  electricity  were  not  under- 
stood. It  is  not  so  very  long  ago  that  thunder  and 
lightning  were  generally  considered  as  the  threatening 
'  voice  and  enraged  glance  of  Deity.  By  no  means  the 
smallest  benefit  conferred  upon  humanity  by  scientific 
research  has  been  the  removal  of  the  superstition  that 
"He  plants  His  footsteps  in  the  sea  and  rides  upon  the 
storm."  Perhaps  emancipation  from  the  thraldom  of 
the  superstition  that  the  Infinite  spoke  to  Man  in  the 
thunders  of  Sinai  and  manifested  His  anger  by 
cyclones  and  electric  disturbances  has  been  an  even 
greater  benefit  to  humanity  than  the  harnessing  of 
electricity  to  light  our  homes  and  streets,  convey  mes- 
sages instantly  and  afar,  and  propel  our  carriages  and 
turn  the  wheels  of  our  factories.  Indeed,  this  mental 
release  from  the  terrifying  bondage  seems  on  further 
scrutiny  to  be  inestimably  more  worthy  than  the  addi- 
tion to  our  physical  illumination  and  improvement  in 


POSITIVE:  AND  NEGATIVE  LIFE:  65 

communication.  Now  no  one  knows  what  electricity 
really  is,  yet  it  is  one  of  the  elusive  things  that  are  ev- 
ery day  being  made  more  completely  subservient  to  the 
uses  of  Man.  How?  Through  Reason  made  Positive 
by  Rightness.  In  other  words,  we  are  becoming  wise, 
that  is,  Right,  on  the  subject  of  electricity.  In  our 
homes  we  touch  a  button  and  instantly  the  room  is 
flooded  with  light.  The  cleaner  comes  in,  attaches  a 
cord  to  the  lighting  apparatus,  turns  on  the  current, 
and  the  "juice,"  which  would  have  become  light  in 
the  bulb,  passing  through  this  cord  and  the  transmuter 
of  the  vacuum  machine,  expresses  its  power  in  motion. 
We  talk  into  the  transmitter  of  the  telephone;  the 
sound  is  "changed"  by  our  thought,  expressed  as  a 
transformer — a  mechanical  device — into  electricity, 
conveyed  to  a  distant  place,  "changed"  by  another 
transformer  into  sound,  and  our  voice  is  heard  by  a 
friend  miles  away.  All  these  electrical  utilities  are 
thoughts,  "materialized"  by  the  inventor,  and  few  take 
the  pains  even  to  try  to  understand  them,  to  say 
nothing  of  concentrating  their  attention  upon  the  fact 
that  they  are  "nothing  but  thoughts."  Wireless  tele- 
graphy relies  still  less  on  mechanical  devices  and  con- 
nections, telepathy  not  at  all,  and  it  should  seem  evi- 
dent to  the  thoughtful  that  we  are  approaching  the 
time  when  by  a  scientific  knowledge  of  ourselves  we 


66  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

may  render  more  fully  operative  within  us  the  still 
more  subtle  forces  of  Life  itself,  thereby  increasing 
our  health  and  happiness  according  to  the  limit  of 
what  we  know. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

NEGATIVE  LIFE — THE:  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
SUBCONSCIOUSNESSES. 

Scientists  have  demonstrated  that  the  expressions  of 
Life  we  see  about  us  have  developed  from  the  sim- 
plest possible  beginning.  Animal  life,  beginning  with 
but  one  cell,  has  become  complex  to  the  extent  of  a 
million  or  more  cells  in  one  organization — the  proto- 
plasm existing  in  slime,  perhaps  a  million  years  ago, 
is  now  the  splendid  horse  or  the  still  more  perfect 
man.  Wonderful  as  this  change  may  seem  to  us,  the 
way  it  came  about  seems  on  examination  to  be  simple 
enough  outside  of  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness, 
which  was  of  course  the  Cause  of  it  all.  Constructing 
a  building  is  simple  to  the  competent  architect  who 
has  the  workmen  and  materials  at  his  disposal.  In 
his  calculations  he,  as  Nature  does,  begins  with  a  unit. 
The  atom  is  evidently  the  Creative  Unit.  Let  us 
take  this  on  the  principle  of  mathematics,  in  which 
the  numeral  "one"  is  the  basis  of  air  calculations.  Put 
another  "one"  alongside  of  it  and  what  do  you  call 
it?  Not  "two  ones,"  but  "eleven."  If  you  place  one 
numeral  under  the  other  with  the  idea  of  simple  addi- 


68  TH^  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

tion,  you  call  the  result  "two."  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  placing  of  an  additional  unit  in  a  certain  position 
doubles  the  power  of  the  original  unit,  while  in 
another  it  multiplies  it  by  ten  plus  its  original  self. 
In  this  way  we  see  that  the  original  unit  holds  its 
identity,  while  the  addition  of  each  unit  not  only 
multiplies  the  original  one,  but  changes  its  appear- 
ance, power  and  name.  We  add  another  unit  and  it 
becomes  "one  hundred  and  eleven."  We  add  one 
beneath  the  other  two  and  it  becomes  "three,"  each 
obeying  the  law  of  the  ratio  of  increase.  Add  another 
unit  still  and  it  becomes  "one  thousand  one  hundred 
and  eleven,"  more  complex,  more  ponderous.  Of 
course  how  much  complexity  or  ponderosity  an  atom 
obtained  but  four  removes  from  a  point  where  it 
became  Negative  Life,  what  has  been  called  an  ap- 
parent atom,  i.  e.,  taken  on  the  capacity  of  becoming 
a  distinguishable  atom,  does  not  greatly  concern  us. 
It  may  have  taken  a  million  moves  before  it  became 
large  enough  to  be  examined  by  a  microscope,  had 
one  existed  at  that  time.  What  we  most  desire  to 
know  is  something  of  the  plan,  and  it  brings  almost 
a  sense  of  relief  to  find  our  simple  mathematics  so 
representative  of  the  progress  conceivable.  Indeed, 
mathematics,  being  an  exact  science,  must  necessarily 
be  found  to  express  everything  with  regard  to  dimen- 
sions and  construction.  In  the  same  manner  music  is 


NEGATIVE  LIFE  69 

the  science  of  harmony.  The  size  of  the  notes,  their 
place  in  relation  to  the  staff,  the  number  of  sharps 
and  flats — all  these  things  express  the  arrangement 
and  power  of  sounds.  In  our  use  of  the  twenty-six 
letters  of  the  alphabet  what  wonders  can  be  accom- 
plished !  By  their  means  everything  known  to  any 
human  consciousness  can  be  expressed.  By  means  of 
the  atom  Infinity  has  expressed  Life  as  we  see  it  ex- 
pressed. To  the  student  of  Nature  everything  is 
wondrously  beautiful,  but  he  regards  nothing  as  a 
miracle;  he  has  watched  the  progress  of  things  until 
he  has  come  to  an  understanding  that  everything  is 
governed  by  Law,  and  what  has  been  will  be  again 
under  similar  circumstances,  and  that  with  improved 
environment  what  has  been  will  be  still  more  beau- 
tiful. 

A  discussion  of  how  many  removes  the  tadpole  may 
have  been  from  the  protoplasm  may  interest  the 
scientific  specialist,  but  it  has  no  place  here.  Nor 
does  it  greatly  matter  how  long  it  took  the  tadpole  to 
acquire  a  subconsciousness  of  sufficient  cells  to  appear 
as  a  frog,  a  fish,  a  bird,  a  horse,  or  a  man.  The 
average  person  is  mostly  concerned  about  himself,  as 
he  is  or  as  he  may  become.  Before  passing  to  this, 
however,  it  is  necessary  to  reiterate  that  the  original 
atoms  of  the  Universe  being  the  fiat  of  Infinite  Mind, 
as  such  became  eternal.  How  many  varieties  of  these 


70  THS  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

there  are  does  not  affect  the  principle  being  demon- 
strated. The  researchers  in  the  laboratories  may  re- 
duce the  number  now  known  by  half,  or  to  a  very 
few — or  may  increase  the  number — the  principle  of 
the  atom  being  the  unit  of  the  so-called  material 
universe  remains  the  same.  Combinations  of  them, 
however,  became  Subconsciousnesses,  and  as  such  can 
be  disintegrated,  and  are  continually  in  a  state  of  dis- 
integration, and  are  being  re-assembled  in  different 
forms.  Just  as  "one  thousand  one  hundred  and 
eleven"  is  a  Subconsciousness  of  the  unit  "one"  and 
can  be  wiped  from  the  slate  without  any  damage  to 
the  unit  expressed  by  "one,"  so  all  Subconsciousnesses 
can  appear  and  disappear  according  to  the  law  of  the 
Infinite  Urge  which  uses  them  for  expression.  A 
Consciousness  is  a  purely  selfish  thing,  and  a  Subcon- 
sciousness is  the  same.  A  Consciousness  may  be 
defined  as  something  which  knows  what  it  is  and  is  to 
itself  the  center  of  Life.  It  exists  for  itself  alone. 
It  combines  with  that  for  which  it  has  an  affinity,  and 
repels  that  which  it  dislikes.  In  each  Consciousness 
or  Subconsciousness  there  is  a  Supraconsciousness. 
This  consists  of  the  Infinite  Life,  which,  being  Omni- 
present, fills  to  its  fulness  each  atom  or  combination 
of  atoms.  While  it  fills  everything  it  displaces  noth- 
ing, and  is  within  that  atom  or  combination  of  atoms 
a  continuous  Urge  to  Rightness,  and  the  response  of 


NEGATIVE;  Li^  71 

each  atom  or  combination  of  atoms  to  this  Urge  is 
their  obedience  to  what  we  know  as  Physical  Laws. 
By  their  obedience  to  these  Physical  Laws  combina- 
tions of  atoms — Subconsciousnesses — have  reached 
their  present  high  development.  As  an  illustration 
let  us  picture  the  primitive  hen  developing  her  legs  as 
a  means  of  locomotion  in  search  of  insect  and  veg- 
etable life  on  the  surface  of  the  ground.  As  worms 
escaped  her  by  going  into  the  loose  soil,  she  tried  to 
stop  their  progress  by  the  use  of  her  rudimentary  feet, 
then  began  to  try  to  remove  the  earth  covering  the 
worms  so  as  to  reach  them.  In  this  way  she  devel- 
oped her  claws,  and  in  boring  for  the  worms,  her 
beak.  In  struggling  to  a  place  of  safety  from  de- 
structive animals  on  the  surface  she  developed  her 
wings,  and  as  protection  against  the  weather  evolved 
her  feathers.  Necessity  in  every  case  was  the  origin 
of  her  efforts,  and  the  Infinite  Urge  caused  her  to 
make  the  efforts  and  in  the  right  direction. 

The  wisdom  and  diligence  of  those  who  formulated 
the  doctrine  of  Evolution  are  being  every  day  more 
highly  prized.  In  showing  Man  the  wondrous  pro- 
gress he  has  made  during  the  many  centuries  since 
the  period  the  fossils  of  which  prove  his  prehistoric 
ancestors  to  have  been  cave-dwellers,  a  strong  light 
has  been  thrown  upon  the  possibilities  of  his  still  fur- 
ther advancement.  His  physical  progress  has  been 


72  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

that  of  the  highest-grade  animal.  His  intellectual 
development  made  it  manifest  to  himself  that  he  had 
something  within  him  superior  to  the  qualities  of 
other  animals.  This  quality  he  appreciated  to  be  a 
capacity  to  judge  for  himself — that  he  was  capable  of 
Reasoning.  When  or  how  he  made  this  discovery  is 
not  nearly  so  important  as  a  full  appreciation  of  the 
faculty  itself.  According  to  the  Biblical  account, 
Adam  and  Eve  obtained  their  knowledge  of  the  dif- 
ference between  Good  and  Evil  by  eating  of  a  fruit  in 
the  Garden  of  Eden,  having  been  tempted  to  do  so  by 
a  serpent.  There  are  many  things  about  this  story 
which  discredit  it.  Apparently  Adam  and  Eve  had 
been  newly  "created,"  and  were  without  experience  of 
any  kind  except  such  as  they  had  acquired  in  their 
nude  wanderings  through  the  Garden  of  Eden.  That 
such  full-grown  beings,  so  badly  equipped  for  life's 
conflicts,  were  ever  launched  into  a  contest  so  un- 
equal, is  incredible.  Their  arrival  on  the  scene  as 
adults  is  opposed  to  every  known  law  of  progress  and 
development.  That  the  Evil  One,  disguised  as  a  ser- 
pent, tempted  them,  is  preposterous.  A  snake  was 
never  known  to  talk,  before  nor  since.  Satan's  pres- 
ence there  must  have  been  known  to  the  Infinite  and 
the  result  of  his  argument  anticipated.  If  so,  the  Infi- 
nite participated  in  the  burlesque  of  tempting  creatures 
that  did  not  know  the  difference  between  Right  and 


NEGATIVE  LIFE  73 

Wrong,  to  commit  Wrong.  What  is  worse,  he  is 
described  as  sentencing  not  only  Adam  and  Eve,  but 
all  their  descendants,  to  hard  labor  and  other  pains 
and  penalties  during  life,  which  would  be  closed  by 
death.  The  appearance  of  the  Infinite  in  the  garden 
in  the  form  of  a  man  and  mistaken  by  Adam  as  the 
gardener  (what  did  Adam  know  about  gardeners?) 
is  all  terribly  out  of  joint  with  the  character  of  the 
Infinite  as  we  have  so  far  observed  It.  Yet  what 
could  we  expect  of  the  Hebrew  writers  who  at  differ- 
ent periods  compiled  the  story  of  Genesis  ?  It  was  the 
picture  that  came  to  them  of  Man's  advent  into  this 
world.  Vague  and  misleading  as  the  picture  is,  it  is 
one  that  we  cannot  pass  over  as  entirely  unworthy  of 
attention.  The  Hebrew  prophets,  poets  and  historians 
were  feeling  feebly  in  the  dimness  of  the  times  to 
find  whence  they  came.  They  found  something,  as  do 
all  who  seek,  but  the  assumption  that  they  found  it  all 
is  as  ridiculous  as  that  Franklin  discovered  everything 
about  electricity  while  flying  his  kite.  What  these 
seers  evidently  thought  they  found  was  Man  thor- 
oughly developed  as  an  animal  suddenly  coming  into 
the  possession  of  REASON.  As  light  has  been  con- 
tinually breaking  upon  us  for  these  many  centuries, 
this  picture  cannot  be  entirely  ignored.  Did  Man 
come  into  the  possession  of  Reason  in  his  physical 
prime,  or  did  Reason  develop  in  the  ratio  of  his  physi- 


74  TH£  THINKING  UNIVERSE; 

cal  progress?  Now  Reason  is  the  Consciousness  of 
being  a  Man,  and  of  somehow  knowing  the  way  to  be 
the  best  Man.  A  Man,  conscious  of  being  a  Man, 
could  never  have  been  conscious  of  being  anything 
else,  for  Consciousnesses  are  not  interchangeable  as  to 
species.  The  ape,  having  a  Consciousness  of  his 
species,  could  not  by  any  psychological  somersault 
suddenly  become  conscious  of  being  a  man.  If  there 
has  ever  been  anything  nearer  like  a  man  than  an  ape, 
he  must  either  have  been  a  man  or  not  one.  If  he 
was  a  man  he  had  Reason,  and  he  could  not  have  had 
it  except  he  got  it  from  someone  who  had  it,  unless 
he  were  suddenly  endowed  with  it  by  Infinity  as  a 
creative  afterthought,  so  to  speak.  Such  a  thing 
would  be  entirely  out  of  harmony  with  the  progress- 
ive plan  of  development  and  could  not,  of  course,  be 
the  result  of  eating  a  particular  kind  of  fruit.  But 
speaking  of  him  as  a  man  before  he  had  Reason — a 
knowledge  of  Right  and  Wrong — is  a  contradiction 
of  terms,  for  Reason  itself  is  what  constitutes  a  Man. 
It  would  be  just  as  absurd,  if  such  a  thing  were  con- 
ceivable, to  speak  of  a  dog  which  had  been  miracul- 
ously endowed  with  Reason  and  thereby  given  the 
status  of  a  man,  as  having  been  a  man  before  he 
received  this  endowment.  It  is  inconceivable  that 
Man  was  Expressed  at  all  if  not,  on  this  experiential 
plane,  to  seek  for  a  RIGHTNESS  OF  HIS  OWN 


75 

FINDING,  and  how  could  he  seek  for  this  if  not 
possessed  of  Reason?  It  therefore  seems  that  the 
impossibility  of  the  Consciousness  without  Reason 
being  instantly  changed  into  a  Consciousness  with  Rea- 
son proves  that  Reason  has  been  inherent  in  Man 
during  his  entire  evolution  as  an  animal.  This  is  also 
borne  out  by  the  fact  that  Man  was  so  evidently  de- 
signed at  some  period  and  on  some  plane  to  reach 
perfection  by  means  of  his  Reason,  that  that  supreme 
quality  must  have  been  always  in  his  composition, 
otherwise  all  the  time  spent  in  his  development  as  an 
animal  on  this  experiential  plane  was  wasted,  and 
Infinity  knows  no  waste. 

We  are  dealing  here  mainly  with  the  development 
of  the  human  Subconsciousness,  and  have  been  led 
into  the  above  dissertation  as  to  the  point  in  Man's 
development  when  this  Subconsciousness  began  to  be 
affected  by  his  Reason.  Having  decided  that  Reason 
has  always  affected  his  development,  let  us  return  to 
the  main  topic.  The  Subconscious  is  man's  Memory 
Life,  built  up  of  the  repetitional — what  is  ordinarily 
known  as  habit.  These  habits  are  acquired,  as  all 
animals  acquire  them,  except  that  the  reasoning  power 
of  Man  has,  through  his  use  of  it  and  the  use  made  of 
it  by  his  ancestors,  tended  to  make  his  Subconscious- 
ness  a  somewhat  more  complex  thing  than  that  pos- 
sessed by  other  animals.  It  may  as  well  be  noted 


76  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

here  that  the  human  Subconsciousness  does  not  rea- 
son, though  it  is  affected  by  Reason.  This  statement 
may  be  at  variance  with  the  opinions  expressed  by 
writers  who  affirm  that  the  Subconsciousness  is  cap- 
able of  reasoning  deductively,  though  not  inductively, 
but  it  is  nevertheless  correct.  The  scientists  referred 
to  have  found  that  subjects  in  a  state  of  hypnosis 
when  given  a  suggestion  will  reason  from  a  premise 
assumed  to  a  logical  conclusion,  but  are  incapable  of 
anything  but  deductive  reasoning.  This  is  not  reason- 
ing, but  the  consecutive  following  of  a  principle 
through  its  workings.  All  Life  does  this.  As  has 
been  shown,  all  Life  has  a  Supraconsciousness  as  well 
as  a  Consciousness  if  it  be  an  elemental  atom,  or  a 
Supraconsciousness  and  a  Subconsciousness  if  it  be  a 
combination  of  atoms.  The  Supraconsciousness  is  the 
Omnipresent,  the  Infinite  Life,  which  directs  the 
movements  of  the  Conscious  or  Subconscious,  and  is 
always  Right.  This  Unreasoning  Life  pursues  an  un- 
varying course  of  Rightness.  The  human  Subcon- 
sciousness is  disturbed  in  this  automatic  pursuit  of 
Rightness  by  Reason.  In  hypnosis  it  is  noticeable 
that  the  subject  under  the  influence  of  another's  Con- 
sciousness may  be  given  the  most  absurd  proposition 
as  its  premise  of  Tightness,  and  he  will  carry  the  argu- 
ment to  its  conclusion  with  all  the  gravity  and  pro- 
fundity of  something  reasonable.  This  is  because  the 


77 

Subconsciousness  has  been  interfered  with  in  its  auto- 
matic pursuit  of  Rightness,  by  the  suggestion  of  a 
wrong  principle,  which  it  seizes  upon  and  follows 
with  the  same  avidity  as  it  always  follows  what  it 
esteems  to  be  Rightness,  no  matter  how  that  sense  of 
Rightness  is  acquired,  whether  by  memory  or  the 
suggestion  of  Reason.  This  is  not  reasoning,  but 
being  influenced  by  Reason,  which  is  clearly  an  asso- 
ciate-Consciousness, not  a  component  part  of  the 
human  Subconsciousness.  The  human  Subconscious- 
ness  thinks,  as  all  Mind  thinks,  and,  thinking,  acts. 

The  illustration  furnished  by  hypnosis,  that  the 
Subconsciousness  is  not  only  affected  by  Reason  but 
is  equally  affected  by  wrong  reasoning  as  by  right 
reasoning,  makes  it  clear  to  us  how  the  wrong  reason- 
ing of  ourselves  and  our  ancestry  has  affected,  and  is 
affecting,  our  Subconsciousnesses.  If  it  were  not  for 
this  faulty  reasoning  the  human  race  would  be  as 
automatically  and  generally  healthy  as  other  species 
of  animals.  Conversely,  it  seems  distinctly  to  show 
that  Right  Reasoning  would  give  us  an  immunity 
from  even  that  proportion  of  sickness  that  comes  to 
animals  as  the  result  of  environment  and  the  law  of 
decadence. 

Upon  our  Subconsciousnesses  we  rely  for  what  we 
call  the  automatic  functioning  of  our  bodies,  the  work- 
ings of  all  our  organs,  the  movements  of  our  limbs, 


78  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

the  distribution  of  the  nutritive  fluids,  our  respiration, 
the  winking  of  our  eyes,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing. 
The  normal  person  is  not  conscious  of  normal  bodily 
functioning — it  is  all  done  subconsciously.  It  is  the 
result  of  thousands  of  generations  of  habit,  moved  by 
the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness.  No  sane  person  en- 
deavors to  change  this  normal  functioning  for  the 
worse,  but  it  often  is  changed  by  the  exercise  of  Rea- 
son. Those  desiring  to  become  accomplished  practice 
playing  the  piano  until  their  ringers  become  so  skilled 
in  manipulating  the  keys  that  exquisite  harmonies  are 
the  result.  This  is  Reason  interfering  with  the  Sub- 
conscious and  giving  it  the  habit  of  functioning  the 
fingers  almost  automatically  in  response  to  the  thought. 
Skill  in  everything  is  produced  in  the  same  way. 
Good  manners,  good  habits  of  walking,  standing, 
speaking,  and  so  forth,  are  all  the  product  of  repeti- 
tion. Many  people  go  through  the  routine  of  their 
work  so  entirely  subconsciously  that  when  they  begin 
to  reason,  that  is,  think  what  they  will  do  next,  they 
can  scarcely  remember  what  they  have  been  doing. 
When  people  are  awkward  we  say  that  they  are  "self- 
conscious,"  which  is  simply  that  they  are  trying  to 
reason  and  to  act  at  the  same  time,  instead  of  acting 
subconsciously.  Thinking  and  acting  follow  one  an- 
other so  closely  that  the  place  between  them  is  not 
distinguishable.  Indeed,  acting  is  but  the  physical 


NEGATIVE  LIFE  79 

expression  of  thinking,  the  working  of  what  we  call 
the  motor  portion  of  our  brain.  Remembering  and 
acting  do  not  harmonize,  and  when  attempted  cause 
those  who  have  forgotten  the  way  to  pause  and  look 
about  them  before  going  forward.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  one  cannot  act  intelligently  while  trying  to  re- 
member; neither  can  one  reason  and  remember  at 
the  same  time.  These  are  different  mental  processes, 
carried  on  by  different  portions  of  the  brain.  The  rea- 
soning is  done  by  the  perceptive  and  reflective  organs. 
Thinking  and  acting  go  together,  as  when  we  think  we 
are  right  we  act.  Remembering  is  a  struggle  to  regain 
Rightness,  and  when  that  is  presumptively  regained 
we  think — act.  All  of  which  goes  to  prove  that  rea- 
soning, remembering,  thinking,  are  different  mental 
processes  carried  on  by  different  portions  of  the 
brain  and  should  not  be  attempted  at  the  same  time 
If  you  are  about  to  deliver  an  address  do  not  mix 
your  memorized  and  extemporary  utterances  or  you 
will  make  a  mess  of  both.  We  all  know  that  we  can 
do  but  one  thing  at  a  time,  be  in  but  one  place  at  a 
time,  go  in  one  direction  at  a  time,  yet  when  we  are 
working  our  intellectual  faculties  we  slide  so  easily 
from  one  mental  process  to  another  that  we  are  very 
apt  to  do  a  great  deal  of  ineffectual  brain  labor.  "Con- 
centration," writers  tell  us,  is  the  means  of  getting  the 
best  out  of  our  thinking.  If  they  were  to  say  con- 


80  TH£  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

centration  is  the  means  of  getting  the  best  out  of  our 
reasoning  they  would  be  right.  It  cannot  be  pointed 
out  too  often  that  Reasoning  is  primary  to  all  con- 
scious Thinking.  Subconsciously  we  do  all  our  per- 
fect thinking  and  acting,  apparently  automatically. 
When  we  think  consciously  it  is  the  result  of  having 
arrived  at  apparent  Rightness  by  means  of  Reason, 
and  then  making  an  effort  to  act.  Our  actions  in  this 
state  of  mind  are  confused  and  awkward — self-con- 
scious— for  the  Subconsciousness  has  not  yet  become 
accustomed  to  that  line  of  action.  When  we  concen- 
trate our  reasoning  faculties  we  have  but  to  decide 
first  of  all  what  we  are  after,  then  how  we  will  go 
about  it,  and  if  no  solution  comes  to  the  reasoning 
mind  hold  steadily  to  the  question  we  are  asking  our- 
selves, become  static,  that  is,  settle  into  a  receptive 
state  of  mind,  become  balanced.  In  this  state  of 
equipoise  our  whole  being  is  relaxed  and,  as  it  were, 
quietly  listening  for  an  answer  to  the  question  we  are 
asking  ourselves.  In  this  way  we  become  in  harmony 
with  our  Infinite  selves,  and  the  urge  of  our  question- 
ing brings  an  answer.  The  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness 
responds,  our  reasoning  minds  cease  to  be  static  and 
become  dynamic  with  a  glow  of  Rightness.  This 
glow  may  be  scarcely  detected,  but  it  is  sure  to  come, 
and  if  we  remain  in  Stillness  a  little  longer  it  will 
develop  into  a  pleasing  sense  that  the  way  will  appear 


NEGATIVE  LIFE  81 

— and  it  will  appear.  Sometimes  it  comes  like  a  flash, 
and  it  all  depends  on  how  complete  is  the  harmony 
we  establish  between  our  Reasoning  and  Infinite 
selves.  The  establishment  of  this  harmony  requires 
careful  and  continuous  practice,  but  in  every  way  it 
is  gloriously  worth  the  effort. 

To  return  to  the  effect  of  Reason  upon  the  S'ubcon- 
sciousness,  let  us  see  if  this  Habit  Mind  ever  becomes 
unresponsive  to  our  ordinary  Reasonings.  Habit  is 
said  to  be  second  nature,  i.  e.,  our  Subconsciousnesses 
become  so  firmly  set  by  repeatedly  doing  things  in  a 
certain  way,  apparently  with  the  consent  of  our  Rea- 
son, that  any  effort  to  change  the  method  or  leave  the 
thing  undone  is  met  with  stubborn  resistance.  Begin- 
ning with  the  occasional  use  of  alcoholic  stimulants  in 
their  milder  forms,  it  is  well  known  that  a  man  very 
easily  becomes  addicted  to  the  drink  habit.  He  takes 
it  to  excess,  becomes  intoxicated,  foolish,  helpless,  and 
finally  sick.  He  does  this  again  and  again.  Each 
time  his  friends  and  his  Reason  tell  him  he  is  not 
Right.  He  argues  with  his  Subconsciousness,  but  as 
it  is  an  unreasoning  thing  he  gets  no  satisfaction.  He 
"makes  up  his  mind"  to  quit  drinking,  but  subcon- 
sciously he  yearns  mightily  for  his  accustomed  stimu- 
lants. Only  those  who  have  been  consumed  by  this 
terrible  yearning  can  appreciate  how  paltry  a  thing 
Reason  appears  as  an  offset  to  it.  The  desire  for 


82  THS  THINKING  UNIVERSE: 

drink  seems  to  be  a  living,  devilish  thing.  It  grips  the 
vitals  with  fingers  of  fire.  Sometimes  a  great  calam- 
ity, confinement  in  a  hospital,  the  "gold  cure,"  the 
prayerful  pleadings  of  a  wife,  of  a  member  of  the 
Salvation  Army  or  a  clergyman,  may  cause  the  inebri- 
ate to  become  static  long  enough  for  his  better  self, 
the  Infinite  within  him,  to  become  a  source  of 
strength,  and  the  seventh  intake  of  his  Reason  sup- 
plies him  with  strength,  which  for  a  time  at  least 
may  make  him  positive,  static,  in  Rightness,  and  thus 
able  to  resist.  Unfortunately,  however,  a  return  to 
old  scenes  and  old  associates,  perhaps  made  necessary 
by  his  avocation,  wakes  up  his  memory  life,  startles 
his  habit  impulses  into  a  renewed  clamor,  and  he  finds 
his  Reason  a  willing  tool  of  his  Subconsciousness  and 
returns  to  his  old  habits,  less  able  than  ever  to  control 
them.  Why?  He  does  not  understand  himself.  He 
does  not  know  how,  at  the  moment  of  temptation,  to 
seize  the  hand  of  his  better  self  and  be  pulled  away 
from  danger.  He  has  never  really  "made  up  his 
mind"  to  quit  drinking.  He  has  not  "made  up  his 
Subconscious  mind." 

The  drug  habit,  the  use  of  narcotics,  is  much  the 
same.  The  power  of  Reason  has  been  weakened  by 
frequent  yieldings  to  a  habit  so  strongly  established 
in  the  Subconsciousness  as  to  become  Its  sense  of 
Rightness.  Chronic  disease  is  much  the  same.  It 


NEGATIVE  LIFE  83 

establishes  itself  in  the  Subconsciousness  until  it  be- 
comes Second  Nature,  and  the  Subconsciousness 
causes  the  functioning  of  the  body  to  follow  the  line 
of  disease  instead  of  health.  The  Subconsciousness 
in  providing  the  body  with  diseased  functioning  thinks 
it  is  doing  right,  its  idea  of  Right  being  supplied  it 
by  its  frequent  repetitions  of  diseased  functionings. 
How  disease  starts  is  often  apparently  as  obscure  as 
the  origin  of  life  itself.  Many  diseases  apparently 
mysterious  in  their  origin  are  doubtless  the  result  of 
a  memory  of  that  disease  being  in  the  Subconscious- 
ness,  possibly  carried  for  many  generations  back  and 
startled  into  asserting  itself  by  some  bodily  condi- 
tion, environment  or  occurrence.  In  this  way  odors 
have  a  remarkable  effect  upon  some  people,  whose 
Subconsciousnesses  carry  a  memory  of  that  particular 
odor,  which  had  that  particular  effect  upon  people 
generations  ago  whose  experiences  had  their  share  in 
forming  the  Subconsciousnesses  in  question.  When  the 
Reason  accepts  the  working  of  the  memory  conscious- 
ness as  something  that  cannot  be  combated  it  instant- 
ly forms  an  alliance  with  the  sick  impulse  and  aids  in 
its  development.  On  the  other  hand,  when  Reason, 
understanding  the  working  of  the  Subconsciousness, 
sees  an  hereditary  trouble  developing,  or  in  fact  ob- 
serves anything  developing  which  is  not  in  harmony 
with  itself — Reason — it  can  very  quickly  stop  its  de- 


84  THS  THJNKING  UNIVERSE 

velopmvnt  by  turning  to  its  Infinite  self  and  becoming 
Positive  in  its  Rightness.  These  things  will  be  fur- 
ther discussed  in  the  chapters  on  "healing,"  and  have 
been  noted  here  simply  to  make  harmonious  our  pro- 
gress in  the  study  of  Life  and  Living.  What  we  need 
to  fix  firmly  in  our  minds  are  these  two  points : 

(1)  Our   Subconsciousness   is   not   a   weak   thing. 
It  is  strong  with  the  development  of  hundreds  of  cen- 
turies  of   unceasing   struggle    for   animal   perfection. 
Its  strength  is  in  proportion  to  the  perfection  of  our 
physical  breeding,  and  when  we  discover  its  strength, 
even  when  our  Reason  tells  us  it  is  pursuing  a  wrong 
course,  we  should  be  proud  of  it  and  not  revile  it, 
though  it  takes  a  mighty  and  prolonged  struggle  to 
bring  it  to  the  standard  of  our  Reason. 

(2)  It  is  not  a  foolish,  capricious  or  wicked  thing. 
It  is  as  absurd  to  consider  it  so  as  to  take  that  view 
of  the  Subconsciousness  of  a  horse,  an  ox,  a  dog  or  a 
tree.    They  are  all  developed  on  the  same  lines,  except 
as  Reason  is  interposed  in  the  human  Subconscious- 
ness.     Every  Subconsciousness  is  wise  with  the  wis- 
dom of  Infinity,  as  far  as  its  own  species  is  concerned. 
Every  Subconsciousness,  having  been  built  up  by  the 
repetitional,   the   habitual,   as   moved   by   the   Infinite 
Urge    to    Rightness,    considers    the    repetitional,    the 
habitual,  the  proper  course  to  pursue.    When  we  con- 
sider how  much  of  our  living  is  made  up  of  this  sort 


NEGATIVE  LIFE  85 

of  thing  we  will  not  wonder  that  it  is  so.  All  our 
functioning  is  Subconscious,  and  it  is  fortunate  for 
us  that  it  is  so,  for  if  we  had  to  be  conscious  of  every 
breath  we  draw,  every  movement  of  our  hearts,  of 
our  digestive  organs,  we  would  not  last  an  hour. 
We  would  not  dare  to  sleep  for  fear  we  would  forget 
to  breathe  or  keep  the  heart  at  its  work.  These 
things  are  done  by  the  sleepless  Subconsciousness. 
The  joy  of  living  in  a  physical  sense  comes  from  the 
work  of  a  normal  Subconsciousness  performing  Its 
duties  without  our  being  aware  of  it.  Every  Sub- 
consciousness  is,  with  its  Supraconsciousness — the 
Infinite  Life — complete  in  itself.  This  is  in  harmony 
with  the  Egoism  of  the  Universe,  that  every  Conscious- 
ness and  Subconsciousness  is  to  itself  the  center  of 
Life;  in  no  sense  is  it  helpless.  Affected,  of  course, 
by  environment,  the  horse,  the  tree,  the  flower,  suffi- 
cient to  itself,  pursues  the  path  of  perfection  of  species, 
in  its  growth  and  in  passing  away  to  make  room  for 
others.  It  must  be  evident  to  us,  then,  that  every  un- 
reasoning Subconsciousness  at  least  is  so  constituted 
as  to  be  able  to  "work  out  its  own  salvation/' 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  INFLUENCE;  OF  THE  SUBCONSCIOUS  ON  THE  REA- 
SON— DIVINE  HYPNOTISM  ? 

We  have  noticed  how  Reason,  when  diligently  em- 
ployed, can  cause  the  Subconsciousness  to  acquire  ac- 
complishments entirely  new  to  the  development  that  it 
has  found  through  centuries  of  progress  and  untold 
generations  of  our  ancestors.  Having  seen  how  Rea- 
son can  affect  it,  let  us  glance  at  how  it  can  affect 
Reason.  Perhaps  no  better  description  of  the  perti- 
nacity of  our  Subconsciousness — our  Memory,  our 
Habit  Mind — in  asserting  its  standard  of  Rightness, 
acquired,  as  we  have  seen,  as  in  all  other  animal  Sub- 
consciousnesses,  through  experience,  often  "red  of 
beak  and  claw,"  is  to  be  found  than  in  the  seventn 
chapter  of  Romans : 

15.  For  that  which  I  do  I  allow  not:   for  what  I  would,  that  do   I 
not;  but  what  I  hate,   that  do   I. 

16.  If  then   I   do   that  which   I   would  not,   I   consent  unto   the   law 
that  it  is  good. 

17.  Now  then  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me. 

18.  For  I  know  that  in  me   (that  is,  in  my  flesh,)   dwelleth  no  good 
thing:   for  to  will  is  present  with  me;  but  how  to  perform  that  which  is 
good    I    find    not. 

19.  For  the  good  that  I  would  I  do  not:  but  the  evil  which  I  would 
not,  that  I  do. 

20.  Now  if  I  do  that  I  would  not,   it  is  no  more  I  that  do   it,  but 
sin    that    dwelleth    in    me. 

21.  I  find  then  a  law,  that,  when   I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present 
with  me. 

22.  For  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man: 

23.  But  I  see  another  law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law 
of   my   mind,    and   bringing   me    into    captivity   to    the    law   of   sin    which 
is  in  my  members. 

24.  O  wretched  man  that  I  am!  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body 
of   this   death? 

25.  I  thank  God  through  Jesus   Christ  pur  Lord.      So  then  with  the 
mind  I  myself  serve  the  law  of  God;  but  with  the  flesh  the  law  of  sin. 


INFLUENCE:  OF  THE  SUBCONSCIOUS        87 

Paul,  with  all  his  mastery  of  logic,  with  all  his  skill 
as  a  Reasoner,  at  times  was  evidently  fearful  of  his 
ability  to  overcome  the  "sin  that  dwelt  in  him." 
When  we  have  made  some  noble  resolution  and  mis- 
erably failed  to  adhere  to  it,  who  amongst  us  has  not 
cried,  "O  wretched  man  that  I  am !  Who  shall  de- 
liver me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?"  Paul's  answer 
to  his  own  question  is  not  satisfying.  Who  can  tell 
what  he  really  means?  The  quips  and  quirls  of  his 
logic  have  made  the  Pauline  Theology  an  almost  fruit- 
less study.  Putting  this  aside,  let  us  face  the  situa- 
tion as  he  saw  it  and  as  we  all  see  it.  Our  Reason — 
our  unsensuous  self — finds  Rightness  in  a  certain 
course.  When  we  attempt  to  pursue  this  course  our 
Memory  Mind  begins  to  raise  objections.  We  have 
made  up  our  minds  always  to  tell  the  truth  without 
a  shadow  of  evasion  or  equivocation.  Our  Habit 
Mind  tells  us  that  "all  men  are  liars,"  that  we  will 
be  misunderstood,  misrepresented,  find  it  impossible 
to  live  with  people,  to  do  business.  We  insist  that 
we  will  pursue  the  course  we  have  mapped  out.  It 
comes  back  at  us  with  the  assertion  that  it  is  not 
worth  while,  that  we  will  tire  ourselves  out  and  make 
everybody  tired  of  us.  We  still  insist  that  we  will 
stick  to  our  plan.  It  asserts  that  we  will  be  really 
doing  harm  by  pursuing  such  a  course,  that  many 
untruths  are  merely  diplomatic  efforts  to  evade  fric- 


88  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

tion  and  "white  lies"  are  the  essence  of  true  polite- 
ness; that  we  can  do  more  good  ourselves  and  enable 
other  people  to  be  better  by  ignoring  faults  or  even 
quietly  accepting  them  as  virtues  in  disguise.  Still 
we  persist.  We  meet  Mrs.  Smith,  who  is  wearing 
a  hat  ultra-fashionable  to  hideousness.  She  has  paid 
a  big  price  for  it  and  wants  to  know,  "How  do  you 
like  my  hat?"  We  are  determined  to  tell  the  truth, 
but  we  stammer  and  stutter  and  turn  red  in  the  face 
— our  Subconsciousness  is  telling  us  that  we  will 
make  a  mess  of  our  friendship  if  we  do  not  assert 
that  her  hat  is  pretty.  She  sees  our  predicament, 
also  turns  red  in  the  face,  becomes  angry,  and  snaps 
at  us,  "You  hateful  old  thing!  You  are  just  envious 
of  me."  She  rushes  away.  Our  Subconsciousness 
whispers,  "I  told  you  so.  You  will  always  be  in  hot 
water  if  you  try  to  tell  the  truth."  We  blame  our- 
selves for  not  being  prepared  for  the  emergency ;  our 
only  trouble  is  that  our  Subconsciousness  is  untrained 
in  telling  the  truth  nicely,  and  we  have  been  guilty 
of  doing  a  right  thing  wrongly.  We  have  luncheon 
with  Mrs.  Brown.  The  coffee  is  vile.  She  admits  it 
and  we  do  not  deny  it.  She  thinks  we  do  not  care 
enough  for  her  good  opinion  to  assert  that  the  cof- 
fee is  good  even  when  she  herself  knows  it  is  bad. 
She  is  hurt,  and  we  know  it.  Our  Subconsciousness 
again  whispers,  "I  told  you  so.  You  cannot  be  dif- 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  SUBCONSCIOUS       89 

ferent  from  other  people.  They  won't  understand 
you."  We  have  a  newspaper  and  tell  the  truth  about 
its  circulation.  Our  advertising  agents  quit  us  and 
we  lose  business.  Again  our  Subconsciousness  tells 
us  we  are  making  fools  of  ourselves.  A  friend  asks 
us  to  testify  in  court,  giving  his  version  of  what  is  in 
litigation.  He  explains  what  he  desires  us  to  say. 
We  tell  him  that  that  is  not  our  view  of  it  at  all.  He 
wants  to  know  if  we  cannot  take  that  view  of  it,  as 
it  is  the  "right"  one.  It  is  useless  to  argue.  He  is 
hurt  and  we  feel  that  he  hates  us.  Again  our  Sub- 
consciousness  whispers,  "I  told  you  so."  A  friend 
asks  us  to  pledge  ourselves  to  vote  for  him.  We 
know  he  is  unfit  for  the  office  he  seeks.  We  also 
know  that  we  can  keep  his  friendship  by  promising 
to  vote  for  him  even  if  we  do  not  vote  at  all  or  for 
the  other  candidate.  We  tell  him  the  truth  and  he 
leaves  us  in  disgust,  saying  that  he  always  knew  we 
never  wanted  to  see  him  get  ahead.  Again  Subcon- 
sciousness reminds  us  of  our  "folly."  What  is 
wrong?  Trying  to  do  right,  evil  is  always  with  us. 
Why  does  our  Subconsciousness  fail  to  help  us? 
Why  does  it  persist  in  flouting  us?  Because  it  has 
been  educated  to  believe  that  "diplomacy,"  even  to 
the  extent  of  lying  and  perjury,  is  Right.  It  is  forti- 
fied in  this  by  seeing  almost  everybody  doing  the 
same  thing,  by  its  memory  of  what  our  ancestors 


90  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

have  done.  It  is  following  the  Urge  to  Rightness 
as  it  sees  it.  Whenever  we  follow  a  fashion  we  are 
apt  to  follow  an  unreasoning  Urge  to  appear  Right 
in  the  eyes  of  others.  We  follow  the  unreasonable 
fashions  almost  as  slavishly  as  we  do  the  reasonable 
ones.  The  impulse  is  right,  but  it  takes  a  wrong 
direction.  The  impulse  is  towards  harmony,  but  it 
often  results  in  a  harmony  of  ugliness.  Reason 
should  correct  our  tendencies  to  follow  our  Subcon- 
scious urge  when  it  (Reason)  tells  us  that  the  im- 
pulse is  that  of  our  animal  rather  than  spiritual 
being.  It  is  not  "sin  dwelling  in  us,"  but  an  Urge  to 
Rightness  dwelling  in  us,  unguided  by  Reason.  That 
is  the  trouble.  When  we  determine  on  any  course 
of  Rightness  we  must  be  prepared  for  the  initial 
difficulties.  We  must  be  sure  that  there  is  no  ele- 
ment of  spitefulness  in  us,  that  our  impulse  is  sweet 
and  pure.  If  it  is  so,  if  we  can  go  into  our  Infinite 
selves  when  the  trial  of  our  resolution  comes,  our 
good  intentions  will  be  made  manifest  and  we  will  do 
the  thing  so  sweetly,  so  gently,  that  there  will  be 
no  sting,  and  instead  of  reproaching  ourselves  we  will 
feel  a  joy  at  finding  that  doing  right  is  not  as  hard 
as  it  is  made  out  to  be.  If  it  is  known  that  we  have 
not  made  truth-telling  a  mere  excuse  for  saying 
wounding  things,  but  that  it  is  a  principle  with  us, 
we  will  be  loved,  not  hated,  for  it,  and  instead  of 


THE;  INFLUENCE;  OF  THE  SUBCONSCIOUS       91 

losing  popularity  and  business  we  will  find  people 
"putting  things  our  way."  A  sin  is  a  mistake,  not 
an  entity  cursed  in  its  origin.  When  the  Subcon- 
sciousness  tempts  the  drunkard  to  take  the  drink  that 
will  make  him  fall  down,  it  does  it  because  it  follows 
its  "habit"  Rightness — its  Urge  to  the  Rightness  to 
which  it  has  become  accustomed  by  habit.  It  is  the 
same  Urge  which  makes  the  tree  grow  and  the  flower 
bloom,  only  in  the  man  Reason  lent  itself  for  so  long 
a  period  to  strengthening  the  alcoholic  Subconscious- 
ness  in  its  idea  of  Rightness,  that  when  Reason  at- 
tempts to  re-assert  itself  it  finds  itself  powerless  in 
the  presence  of  the  "demon  of  drink."  Who  is  to 
blame?  Infinity  was  not  made  for  Man,  nor  were 
the  laws  which  govern  the  Expressions  of  Infinity 
suspended  in  his  favor  when  he  was  Expressed.  The 
laws  were  made  for  the  progress  and  perfection  of 
everything,  including  Man.  The  Urge  to  Rightness 
is  universal — Man  cannot  escape  it.  This  Urge  to 
Rightness  works  perfectly  in  every  unreasoning  thing. 
If  Reason  works  rightly  in  Man,  the  universal  Urge 
to  Rightness  in  him  works  rightly.  Are  we  so  con- 
stituted as  to  be  able  by  Reason  to  control  and  direct 
the  Urge  to  Rightness  of  our  animal  natures — our 
Subconsciousnesses  ?  If  not,  Man  is  a  miserable  bur- 
lesque as  an  "image  of  his  Maker."  It  is  inconceiv- 
able that  the  Infinite  should  express  Man  to  be  more 


92  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

helpless  than  the  beast  or  the  plant.  If  Infinity  gave 
Man  Reason  to  guide  the  Urge  to  Rightness  of  his 
Subconsciousness  and  yet  did  not  give  him  a  means 
of  enforcing  this  guidance,  the  Free  Will  of  Man  is 
a  farce.  Also  if  Infinity  guided  the  Urge  to  Right- 
ness  as  it  guides  that  Urge  in  all  Unreasoning  Life, 
Man's  Free  Will  would  become  a  farce,  because  he 
would  be  always  automatically  right  and  his  perfec- 
tion would  be  no  more  than  the  perfection  of  the 
plant  or  the  beast,  and  by  no  means  that  Rightness 
of  his  own  finding  for  which  he  is  designed. 

Now  where  do  we  find  Paul  with  his  controversial 
hair-splittings  which  are  at  once  the  puzzle  and  de- 
light of  Theologians  and  Doctors  of  Logic?  Does 
his  doctrine  teach  that  Man  can  or  cannot  successfully 
direct  the  Urge  to  Rightness  of  his  Subconscious 
mind?  His  cry,  "Who  shall  deliver  me  from  the 
body  of  this  death?"  indicates  that  he  considers  him- 
self unable  to  do  so.  At  this  point  we  find  our  finger 
on  the  elemental  fault  of  the  Pauline  Theology — 
Man's  inability  to  help  himself — the  doctrine  of  Help- 
lessness. We  know  that  Man  can  do  nothing,  which 
is  but  another  way  of  saying  that  he  can  think  noth- 
ing, which  he  is  not  conscious  of  being  able  to  do  or 
think.  Therefore  if  Paul  was  not  conscious  of  being 
able  to  direct  and  control  the  Urge  to  Rightness  of 
his  Subconsciousness,  he  was  unable  to  do  so.  At 


THE;  INFLUENCE;  OF  THE;  SUBCONSCIOUS       93 

present  let  us  look  at  the  situation  entirely  apart  from 
the  only  remedy  which  Paul  suggests.  A  man  can 
possess  nothing  outside  of  what  he  is  conscious  of 
possessing.  Tons  of  gold  may  be  buried  in  his  cellar, 
but  if  he  is  unconscious  of  it  he  does  not  possess  the 
gold.  Undoubtedly  he  has  powers  which  he  never 
exercises.  Being  unconscious  of  the  possession  of 
these  powers  in  his  spiritual  being,  they  are  useless 
to  him  except  as  his  Consciousness  develops  and  be- 
comes aware  of  them.  Stop  a  moment  and  look  at 
this.  Everything  outside  of  a  man's  Consciousness 
is  as  if  it  did  not  exist;  it  does  not,  cannot,  exist  to 
Him.  The  air  he  breathes  is  useless  to  him  until 
he  takes  it  into  his  conscious  body.  All  the  water  of 
the  Great  Lakes  cannot  slake  his  thirst  until  some 
of  it  is  in  his  conscious  body.  All  the  beauties  of 
heaven  and  earth  are  nothing  to  him  till  they  are 
brought  into  his  Consciousness  by  a  sense  avenue. 
Outside  of  his  Consciousness  he  can  have  no  wife, 
father,  mother,  sister,  children.  All  the  food  in  the 
storehouses  of  the  earth  cannot  satisfy  his  hunger 
until  some  of  it  comes  into  his  Consciousness.  There 
is  no  Infinity  for  him  outside  of  his  Consciousness. 
Outside  of  his  Consciousness  there  can  be  no  God, 
no  Christ,  no  Truth — nothing.  This  cannot  be  dis- 
puted. There  is  no  means  of  injecting  into  his  Con- 
sciousness a  thing  which  is  not  there.  There  is  no 


94  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

one  to  inject  such  a  thing,  as  it  is  the  absolute  law 
of  the  Infinite,  a  creative  fiat,  that  no  Consciousness 
shall  be  interfered  with  except  by  suggestion.  If 
Paul  had  been  conscious  of  no  means  of  escaping 
"the  body  of  this  death"  he  would  have  been  indeed 
helpless,  "without  God  or  hope  in  the  world."  His 
consciousness  of  deliverance  "through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord"  gave  him  hope.  Let  us  examine  it. 

His  Consciousness  made  him  aware  of  the  posses- 
sion of  a  Christ,  i.  e.,  he  had  Christ  in  him.  Now 
we  are  in  the  presence  of  the  fundamental  weakness 
of  Christianity.  That  weakness  is  the  Theologizing 
of  Christ  as  a  personage  of  twenty  centuries  ago  in- 
stead of  regarding  It  as  a  principle  which  we  must 
personify  as  ourselves  Now.  For  if  Christ  be  a  per- 
sonage, even  a  spiritual  personage,  He  cannot  be  in 
us  and  we  cannot  be  conscious  of  Him.  As  a  per- 
sonage He  cannot  enter  us.  Like  the  hypnotist,  who 
substitutes  his  Consciousness  for  that  of  his  willing 
subject,  He,  if  He  was  a  personage  could,  and  if  He 
is  a  spiritual  personage  can,  control  our  Subcon- 
sciousness,  but  at  the  expense  of  our  identity.  As 
we  must  abdicate  the  throne  of  our  Reason  before 
giving  it  up  to  the  hypnotist,  we  cease  to  be  our- 
selves while  under  his  influence.  Is  this  Paul's  idea 
of  conversion — this  giving  up  of  our  Reason,  i.  e., 
abandoning  the  purpose  for  which  we  were  expressed 


INFLUENCE:  OF  THE  SUBCONSCIOUS       95 


—  to  be  Christ  automatons?  Is  it  possible?  Is  there 
such  a  thing  as  "Divine  Hypnotism,"  commonly 
called  "conversion"?  We  can  only  judge  of  its  pos- 
sibility by  the  performances  of  those  who  believe  they 
have  been  so  treated.  If  their  Consciousnesses  have 
been  so  replaced  by  the  Christ  Consciousness  that 
their  thinking,  their  living,  is  that  of  the  Christ,  the 
Immaculate,  then  we  can  believe  that  those  who  pro- 
fess to  have  been  thus  converted  have  by  a  loss  of 
their  developed  identity  "put  on  Christ."  What  do 
we  find?  Are  there  any  perfect  men  or  women, 
judging  them  by  the  Christ  standard?  There  are 
none  who  even  profess  such  perfection,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  non-existence  of  anyone  possessing  such 
perfection.  If  we  compare  the  best  "converted"  with 
the  best  "unconverted"  man  of  our  acquaintance,  we 
find  no  difference  that  cannot  be  accounted  for  by 
temperament  and  environment.  They  are  equally 
good  husbands,  fathers,  brothers,  neighbors  and  citi- 
zens. Their  habits  may  be  different,  but  that  is  a 
matter  of  the  Subconsciousness.  Again,  take  the 
worst  "converted"  man  of  our  acquaintance  and  com- 
pare him  with  the  worst  "unconverted"  man  we  hap- 
pen to  know.  There  is  no  difference  that  cannot  be 
accounted  for  by  temperament  and  environment,  and 
again  we  fail  to  detect  a  change  of  Consciousness. 
In  studying  the  behavior  of  a  man  but  recently 


96  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

"changed"  we  find  no  great  difference  except  perhaps 
in  his  habits.  The  most  noticeable  change  is  perhaps 
that  in  the  behavior  of  the  habitual  drunkard.  For 
a  time  at  least  he  changes  his  habits,  but  many  drunk- 
ards reform  without  being  "converted."  Reformed 
men  of  both  classes  show  their  reformation  by  chang- 
ing their  places  of  resort.  One  goes  to  church  instead 
of  to  saloons,  the  other  goes  about  with  his  wife  and 
temperate  friends,  and  we  judge  the  difference  to 
be  only  that ;  in  neither  case  do  we  see  signs  oi 
Divine  hypnosis. 

Let  us  look  at  the  history  of  the  past,  then  glance 
at  the  condition  of  things  today.  What  has  been 
known  as  the  "Church" — the  dominant  expression  in 
each  country  of  Theological  Orthodoxy — has  con- 
sistently refused  to  recognize  Reason  in  its  councils, 
and  Reason,  thus  rejected,  has  sought  other  channels 
in  working  out  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness  within 
it.  This  has  been  known  as  the  conflict  between 
Science  and  Religion.  Galileo  was  imprisoned  by  the 
"Church,"  then  having  temporal  power,  for  assert- 
ing that  the  sun  stood  still  and  the  earth 
moved.  All  scientific  searchers  for  truth  were 
treated  in  the  same  way.  Those  within  the 
Church  or  under  its  domination  who  dared  to 
express  the  results  of  the  workings  of  their  Reason 
for  Rightness  in  Theological  matters,  were  punished 


THE  INFLUENCE;  OF  THE:  SUBCONSCIOUS        97 

by  the  pains  of  the  Inquisition  or  burned  at  the  stake 
These  openly  cruel  persecutions  ceased  as  Reason 
established  a  firmer  foothold,  but  if  we  read  the  lives 
of  Darwin,  Huxley,  Spencer  and  others  who  differed 
with  Orthodoxy,  we  find  that  they  suffered  from  the 
ostracisms  and  penalties  inflicted  by  arrogant  Ortho- 
doxy that  other  men  might  be  discouraged  from 
adopting  their  views  or  lines  of  research.  Fortunate- 
ly the  Urge  to  Rightness  in  Man  has  been  too  strong 
to  be  overwhelmed  by  arrogant  assumption — which  is 
but  a  perverted  expression  of  the  Urge  to  Rightness. 
The  Church  has  been  deprived,  by  its  ostracism  of 
reasoners,  of  the  strength  it  should  have  had  in  de- 
veloping the  real  meaning  of  the  Infinite,  while  other 
avenues  of  expression  have  been  chosen  by  great 
thinkers  to  work  out  their  Urge  to  Rightness.  Thus 
electrical  knowledge,  astronomy,  all  the  sciences,  en- 
gineering, hygiene  and  sanitation,  politics  and  eco- 
nomics, even  eleemosynary  and  educational  pursuits  of 
the  higher  order,  have  become  divorced  from  the 
Church  and  made  great  progress,  while  the  Church 
itself  has  not  even  been  able  to  maintain  anything 
like  its  old  ascendency,  and  has  even  fallen  into  such 
a  situation  as  to  be  regarded  very  much  as  a  social 
club,  as  an  easily  obtained  badge  of  respectability, 
or  at  best  as  a  good  organization  to  keep  peo- 
ple away  from  worse  things.  It  is  comforting  to  the 


98  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

extent  that  it  ministers  to  and  encourages  a  belief  in 
personal  helplessness  in  weaklings,  while  it  at  least 
partially  satisfies  the  Urge  to  Rightness  in  others  who 
are  stronger,  but  in  the  largest  sense  is  as  helpful  to 
neither  as  enlightened  Reason  would  be.  As  a  means 
of  bringing  about  individual,  family,  communal,  or 
national  Rightness,  what  has  it  done?  The  Orthodox 
world  is  rilled  with  lawyers,  courts,  policemen,  and 
prisons,  to  enforce  local  or  national  laws,  while  the 
nations  of  Europe,  so  long  devoting  their  spare 
strength  to  organizing  and  maintaining  great  armies, 
navies  and  arsenals,  are  at  this  moment  of  writing 
engaged  in  the  deadliest  conflict  known  to  history. 
King  George,  "Defender  of  the  Faith'7  in  the  realms 
of  Great  Britain,  is  allied  with  the  Czar  of  Russia, 
head  of  the  Greek  Church ;  with  Italy,  the  cradle  if 
not  the  birthplace  of  Christian  Theology,  and  with 
Catholic  France — the  least  religious  of  the  allies — to 
overwhelm  if  possible  the  Kaiser,  who  believes  him- 
self to  be  the  Agent  of  God;  Francis  Joseph,  the 
strongest  earthly  supporter  of  the  Pope,  and  Mahom- 
etan Turkey.  Theologized  Christianity  has  had  ample 
opportunities  for  many  centuries  to  bring  about  in 
these  countries  a  state  of  mind  which  would  have 
made  war  impossible,  as  impossible  as  it  is  unreason- 
able. The  hierarchies  and  priests  of  all  these  coun- 
tries are  offering  strenuous  prayers  for  the  success 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  SUBCONSCIOUS        99 

of  the  nations  to  which  they  belong.  If  the  conver- 
sion to  Christianity  of  the  belligerent  millions  has 
been  a  change  of  that  Divinely  hypnotic  sort  we  must 
presume  to  take  place  if  a  change  at  all  is  effected 
outside  of  the  Reason,  they  would  not  by  the  million 
be  calling  upon  the  Source  of  their  change  for  the 
overthrow  of  each  other.  These  nations,  if  their 
Christianity  is  of  the  sort  that  by  their  own  cons.ent 
they  have  abdicated  Reason,  to  be  controlled  by  the 
Consciousness  of  Christ,  must  all,  with  the  exception 
of  Turkey,  be  controlled  by  the  same  Consciousness 
and  therefore  express  the  same  thing.  But  they  do 
not.  Christian  Germany  burns  with  blood  lust  for  the 
overthrow  of  Great  Britain,  and  Great  Britain  returns 
the  compliment  with  an  equally  burning  desire  to  wipe 
Germany  off  the  map.  They  certainly  cannot  be  con- 
trolled by  the  same  Divine  Consciousness,  and  we 
must  conclude  that  no  Divine  Consciousness  holds 
any  of  these  belligerent  nations  in  its  spell.  On  the 
other  hand,  we  must  conclude  that  this  conflict  of 
elemental  passions,  bloodier,  deadlier,  more  wide- 
spread than  any  other  war,  is  but  a  return  of  the 
belligerents  to  that  state  of  mind  which  controlled 
half-developed  Man  who  beat  out  the  brains  of  his 
enemy  with  club  or  axe  of  stone  to  demonstrate 
the  Tightness  of  the  idea  known  as  the  "survival  of 
the  fittest,"  The  "survival  of  the  fittest"  was,  and 


100  THS  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

is,  the  standard  of  Rightness  in  animal  life,  rendered 
necessary  by  the  development  of  the  simpler  into  the 
higher  forms  of  Mind.  With  the  growth  of  Reason 
and  the  apparently  complete  development  of  our 
physical  bodies,  the  standard  of  Might  being  Right 
was  expected  to  disappear.  Why  has  it  not  done 
so?  There  are  many  perfervid  Theologians  who 
assert  that  because  Rationalism  had  so  rudely 
crowded  Religion  this  carnage  became  inevitable. 
This,  of  course,  is  rubbish,  for  Rationalism  is  Rea- 
son— perhaps  not  sufficiently  enlightened  by  a  con- 
sciousness of  the  Infinite — and  of  all  terrible  things 
since  the  world  began  this  war  is  certainly  the  most 
unreasonable.  It  would  be  nearer  the  truth  to  as- 
sert that  because  Reason  has  been  refused  its  proper 
place  in  Church  councils  it  has  not  found  its  proper 
place  in  national  councils.  If  Reason,  illumined, 
nourished,  by  the  wisdom  it  can  at  its  call  receive 
from  the  Infinite  Life  within  every  reasoning  crea- 
ture, had  its  proper  place,  there  would  be  no  war. 
If  the  Church  had  taught  the  doctrine  that  every 
reasoning  creature  had  a  supply  of  this  Infinite  wis- 
dom within  himself,  to  be  found  for  the  seeking, 
individualism  would  have  been  so  developed  at  this 
stage  of  Man's  progress  that  Nationalism  in  the  form 
of  bloodthirsty  hordes,  with  fingers  tingling  with  beastly 
hate,  would  not  be  urging  on  to  murder  and  rapine. 


INFLUENCE;  ot  TH3  SUBCONSCIOUS      101 

Instead,  the  Theologians  taught  Man's  "helplessness  in 
sin/'  and  pointed  out  the  personal  Christ,  now  located 
in  heaven,  as  the  only  means  of  freedom  from  such  evils 
as  the  lust  for  an  enemy's  blood.  Belief  in  such  a  doc- 
trine left  Christian  Europe  as  helpless  in  the  hands  of 
racial  hate  as  the  cave-dwellers  of  the  prehistoric  age. 

Even  Paul,  in  the  misery  of  his  contests  with  the 
"sin  which  dwelt  in  him,"  cried,  "O  wretched  man 
that  I  am!"  Then  Paul  was  not  fully  "converted," 
and  if  partially  "converted,"  why  not  entirely  "con- 
verted"? If  it  is  possible  to  be  partially  changed  it 
should  be  possible  to  become  entirely  so.  Is  it  the 
fault  of  the  subject  in  his  unwillingness  completely 
to  abandon  his  identity?  If  so,  it  is  because  he  does 
not  want  to  be  entirely  changed,  and  he  is  not  "con- 
verted" at  all.  Is  it  the  fault  of  the  spiritual  Christ 
personage?  It  would  be  slandering  His  character 
to  assert  that  He  desires  men  to  be  only  partially 
good,  therefore  but  partially  happy.  It  is  therefore 
inconceivable,  if  He  takes  possession  of  a  man  as 
does  a  hypnotist,  that  He  would  not  take  possession 
of  him  entirely.  Let  us  look  at  it  as  if  He  did.  It 
would  be  the  application  of  a  force  unrecognized  by 
the  Consciousness  of  the  subject,  for  the  subject 
must  abandon  his  Consciousness  before  he  can  be  so 
hypnotized.  It  would  be  as  if  a  long  spiritual  rope 
with  a  spiritual  hook  on  the  end  of  it  were  let  down 


102  THE  THINKING,  UNIVERSE 

from  a  spiritual  windlass  in  heaven.  As  the  hook 
swayed  about  amongst  men  we  will  try  to  conceive 
of  it  catching  on  to  the  collar  of  the  coat  or  the 
slack  of  the  trousers  of  a  man  who  had  "elected" 
himself  to  be  thus  treated,  or  had  been  "elected"  by 
Infinity  to  be  so  captured.  We  will  have  to  imagine 
the  Infinite  looking  down  from  His  Great  White 
Throne,  seeing  the  situation,  and  calling  to  His  an- 
gels, "Wind  him  up.  He  is  one  of  the  elect."  The 
sinner  on  the  hook,  the  evil  in  him  still  holding, 
would  grab  at  the  grass,  the  bushes,  the  trees,  the 
telegraph  wires,  to  try  to  stay  here.  The  Infinite 
would  say,  "Wind  him  up.  He  is  one  of  the  elect." 
As  they  pulled  this  man  off  the  hook  and  presented 
him  to  the  Infinite,  we  must  conceive  of  the  Infinite 
embracing  him  with  the  words,  "Well  done,  good 
and  faithful  servant.  Enter  thou  into  the  joy  01 
thy  Lord."  How  does  this  harmonize  with  the  doc- 
trine of  Free  Will?  Can  we  harmonize  it?  Yet  it 
is  practically  what  must  be  going  on  if  there  are 
"elect,"  or  those  who  successfully  "elect"  themselves 
to  be  taken  into  eternal  goodness  in  spite  of  the  evil 
that  "wars  in  their  members."  It  is  as  impossible 
as  it  is  grotesquely  absurd.  No  force  mightier  than 
the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness  is  applied  by  Infinity 
to  anything  in  the  Universe.  This  calm,  loving, 


THE  INFLUENCE:  OF  THE  SUBCONSCIOUS      103 

and    irresistible    force    is    always    bearing    upon    us, 
urging  us  to  the  Perfection  at  which  we  shall  all  arrive. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  operations  of  this  Christ 
Principle  when  personified  by  ourselves.  We  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  we  are  so  constituted,  so  equipped, 
within  our  Consciousness,  as  to  help  ourselves.  We 
look  at  the  perfect  animals,  perfect  trees,  perfect 
plants,  about  us,  and  we  see  that  each  thing  has 
within  itself  the  machinery  for  complete  and  perfect 
development.  In  the  acorn  the  oak  exists  in  a  state 
of  embryo.  With  the  environment  which  Nature 
affords,  this  acorn  becomes  a  shoot,  a  sapling,  a 
mighty  tree.  We  recognize  that  the  Infinite  Life  and 
the  Subconscious  life  were  both  IN  the  acorn,  that 
they  were  both  IN  the  shoot,  they  were  both  IN  the 
sapling,  both  IN  the  tree.  We  recognize  the  fact 
that  the  Subconsciousness  in  the  acorn  knew  that  it 
was  to  become  an  oak  and  had  the  machinery  within 
itself  to  do  so.  We  recognize  that  the  Infinite  Life 
in  the  acorn  urged  the  Subconscious  life  to  its  full 
development.  We  cannot  conceive  it  to  be  other- 
wise. We  look  at  ourselves.  We  know  that  we 
were  before  we  were  born,  that  our  animal  cells 
were  completely  pictured  in  the  fecundated  egg  in 
our  mother's  womb.  We  recognize  that  Reason  was 
also  in  that  egg,  intended  to  develop  with  our 
growth  and  to  be  one  of  the  influences  in  shaping 


104  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

our  advancement.  Furthermore,  we  know  that  In- 
finite Life  was  in  that  egg,  with  its  wondrous, 
mighty  Urge  impelling  the  growth  of  the  Subcon- 
scious, the  animal  body,  and  also  impelling  with 
equal  force  the  growth  and  development  of  our 
Reason.  We  know  that  when  the  Subconscious,  the 
animal,  life,  caused  by  the  heredity  which  built  it 
up,  and  often  assisted  by  our  mistaken  Reason  con- 
senting to  it  developing  in  a  wrong  direction,  seems 
to  dominate  our  Reason,  we  can  turn  to  the  Infinite 
Life  within  us  as  to  the  Father  Life,  and  find  the 
strength,  the  wisdom,  to  set  our  Subconsciousnesses 
right.  All  these  processes  are  within  ourselves. 
There  should  be  no  looking  for  outside  help,  for  our 
enlightened  Reason  must  tell  us  of  our  own  full 
equipment.  We  may  be  sick  and  our  Reason  may 
show  us  no  way  to  get  well.  We  send  for  a  physi- 
cian or  a  metaphysician.  The  doctor  gives  us  medi- 
cine and  good  advice.  Neither  is  any  good  unless 
we  take  it.  How  does  it  do  us  good?  The  medicine 
may  change  our  functioning  through  its  inherent 
qualities  or  because  we  reason  that  it  will  do  so, 
but  we  must  become  conscious  of  the  change,  or  the 
forces  within  us  will  not  make  the  cure.  No  reputable 
doctor  pretends  that  his  medicine  cures  any  more 
than  that  the  sticking-plaster  over  the  wound  heals 
the  cut.  They  simply  assist  that  which  is  within 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  SUBCONSCIOUS      105 

ourselves  to  do  the  work.  The  metaphysician,  by 
substituting  his  healthy  reasoning  for  our  reasoning 
weakened  by  disease,  induces  the  Subconsciousness 
to  function  rightly.  This  is  often  helpful,  and  it  gives 
our  own  Reason  a  chance  to  regain  its  equilibrium, 
that  is,  to  become  static,  in  harmony  with  the  In- 
finite Life  within  us.  However,  this  will  be  dealt 
with  later  on.  Now  what  we  desire  to  see  is  that 
the  processes  are  all  carried  on  within  ourselves — 
perfectly  if  the  doctor  knows  what  to  give  or  the 
metaphysician  knows  how  to  apply  his  Conscious- 
ness as  a  temporary  substitute  for  ours. 

Why  should  we  almost  invariably  have  this  im- 
pulse to  send  for  help  when  we  feel  we  are  out  of 
gear?  We  know  that  the  horse,  the  dog,  the  tree, 
does  not,  cannot,  send  for  help,  yet  they  all  com- 
plete their  progress  from  seed  to  the  summit  of  their 
growth  in  perfect  health  when  they  have  a  perfect 
environment.  Are  we  as  helpless  in  matters  of  sick- 
ness as  the  Theologians  would  have  us  believe  we 
are  in  the  matters  of  so-called  sin?  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  we  are  thoroughly  equipped  to  help  ourselves 
if  we  only  knew  how  to  utilize  the  forces  within  us. 
We  are  better  situated  than  the  tree  insomuch  as  we 
can  change  our  environment  if  it  becomes  unwhole- 
some, and  in  no  respect  is  our  equipment  for  per- 
fection less  admirable  than  that  of  the  best  other 


106  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

thing  in  Nature.  The  same  Urge  to  Rightness  is  in 
us  as  in  all  other  things,  but  it  is  interfered  with 
in  the  human  being  by  Reason.  It  seems  evident 
that  Reason,  then,  is  the  thing  that  makes  our  physi- 
cal perfection  so  uncertain.  Conversely,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  if  we  reason  rightly  our  physical  perfection 
will  be  certain.  We  cannot  hope  to  do  this  at  once, 
but  we  can  all  begin.  We  can  at  least  begin  to  divest 
ourselves  of  that  idea  of  helplessness  we  have  been 
trained  to  entertain  with  regard  to  both  sickness  and 
sin.  Many  of  us  have  ceased  sending  for  a  priest 
when  we  feel  sinful,  believing  we  can  change  our 
own  state  of  mind  by  a  proper  effort.  When  we  get 
to  understand  ourselves  better  we  will  cease  to  send 
for  a  physician  when  we  feel  sick,  but  instead  will 
appeal  to  our  Infinite  self  for  relief.  And  who  should 
know  more  about  you  than  your  Infinite  self?  If 
you  think  for  a  moment  that  it  is  that  Infinite  self 
that  has  urged  your  growth  and  development  from 
the  tiny  egg,  you  will  be  filled  with  wonder  that  you 
have  never  thought  of  appealing  to  it  when  you  go 
wrong.  It  did  not  put  you  wrong.  You,  that  is  your 
Reasoning  self,  or  your  Subconscious  self,  got  out  of 
gear,  and  it  is  a  law  of  your  Infinite  being  not  to  in- 
terfere with  you  by  force  or  it  would  step  in  and 
make  you  right  without  being  asked.  If  it  did  step 
in  and  make  you  right  without  being  asked  you  would 


THE:  INFLUENCE  OF  THE:  SUBCONSCIOUS      107 

be  relieved  of  all  further  responsibility  and  would  be- 
come automatically  right,  and  no  better  than  the 
flower  or  the  horse. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
LIVING  Is  BUT  A  SERIES  OF  STATES  OF  MIND 

Presumably  having  arrived  at  the  point  of  view 
from  which  everything  appears  to  us  to  be  Mind,  we 
must  be  convinced  that  the  difference  in  the  things 
we  see  about  us  is  nothing  but  a  difference  in  their 
"state  of  mind."  They  are  different  we  know,  there 
is  but  one  Mind  we  know,  and  the  difference  then 
must  consist  entirely  in  the  state  we  observe  that 
mind  to  be  in.  The  tree  is  in  the  tree  state  of  mind, 
i.  e.,  it  expresses  the  Subconsciousness  of  being  a 
tree — it  thinks  itself  to  be  a  tree.  The  horse  is  in  a 
horse  state  of  mind ;  it  is  conscious  of  being  a  horse, 
i.  e.,  thinks  itself  a  horse.  The  man  is  in  the  human 
state  of  mind,  he  knows  himself  to  be  a  man;  he  is 
conscious  of  possessing  Reason,  and  that  it  is  his 
special  Consciousness,  differentiating  him  from  other 
beings.  The  tree  has  various  states  of  mind;  its  stem 
knows  itself  to  be  a  stem ;  its  roots,  its  branches,  its 
leaves,  its  flowers,  its  fruit,  all  evince  a  different  state 
of  mind.  Each  one  of  these  things  passes  through 
different  states  of  mind  in  its  progress  to  perfection. 
So  in  ourselves  our  lives  are  each  a  series  of  con- 


LIVING — A  SERIES  OF  STATES  OF  MIND     1 09 

tinually  changing  states  of  mind.  Our  heads,  our 
hands,  our  feet,  our  organs,  each  have  a  state  of  mind 
continually  changing  as  the  central  thought  changes, 
and  in  changing  makes  a  new  expression.  When  our 
Reason  decides  that  it  is  time  for  us  to  go  to  bed  we 
think  we  will  go  to  bed.  Everything  in  us  thinks 
of  going  to  bed,  and  if  we  are  in  a  normal  state 
everything  in  us  co-operates  in  going  to  bed.  We 
decide  that  we  will  not  go  to  bed.  Everything  in 
us  decides  that  it  will  not  go  to  bed,  and  remains 
quiescent,  waiting  for  our  Reason  to  decide  what  it 
will  cause  us  to  think  next.  We  decide  to  have  some 
supper,  and  everything  in  us  gets  ready  for  supper. 
Then  we  decide  that  we  will  take  a  little  walk  be- 
fore retiring,  and  everything  in  us  gets  ready  for  the 
stroll.  Then  we  decide  that  the  supper  has  made  us 
feel  ill,  and  everything  in  us  feels  ill.  Or  we  decide, 
the  weather  not  being  good  without,  to  have  a  game 
of  cards  before  going  to  bed,  and  everything  in  us 
gets  ready  for  a  game  of  cards.  These  are  but  sim- 
ple illustrations  of  our  continually  changing  states  of 
mind,  all  instigated  by  the  Reason.  Perhaps  we  fol- 
low our  first  impulse  and  go  to  bed.  We  decide  to 
go  to  sleep,  but  we  find  it  impossible.  How  is  this? 
In  everything  else  Reason  was  in  full  control.  Now 
instead  of  going  to  sleep  we  begin  to  remember  all 
sorts  of  things.  Something  has  aroused  our  Subcon- 


110  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

sciousness,  our  Memory  Consciousness.  Probably  we 
have  acquired  the  habit  of  remembering  before  we 
go  to  sleep — that  is,  asking  ourselves  if  we  have  for- 
gotten anything,  left  anything  undone,  left  some  door 
unlocked.  If  so,  it  is  this  habit  asserting  itself.  We 
cannot  blame  our  Subconsciousness,  though  it  seems 
to  be  over-busy.  We  know  that  in  the  morning  we 
would  blame  it,  that  is,  ourselves,  if  we  left  the  front 
door  unlocked  or  the  dining-room  window  open. 
However,  we  find  this  remembering  business  irritat- 
ing because  we  cannot  stop  it.  This  is  an  undesir- 
able state  of  mind,  and  we  ask  ourselves  how  we 
can  change  it  into  a  sleep  state  of  mind.  We  repeat 
the  multiplication  table,  seeking  to  tire  memory  by 
making  it  stick  to  something  dictated  by  our  Reason. 
Or  we  count  imaginary  sheep  jumping  over  an  imagi- 
nary gate,  thus  seeking  to  change  the  memory  state 
of  mind  to  a  mathematical  state  of  mind  at  the  direc- 
tion of  our  Reason.  Very  few  of  us  appreciate  the 
importance  of  knowing  why  repeating  the  multiplica- 
tion table  or  counting  sheep,  if  persisted  in,  would 
produce  a  sleep  state  of  mind.  These  things  are  sim- 
ply efforts  of  our  Reason  mind  to  dominate  our 
Memory  mind.  If  we  succeed  in  changing  our  mind 
from  a  state  of  memory  to  a  state  of  calculation  we 
may  be  annoyed  by  finding  ourselves  calculating  how 
much  money  we  have  spent,  or  lost,  or  saved,  during 


LIVING — A  SERIES  OF  STATES  OF  MIND     1 1 1 

the  day,  and  then  we  have  another  fight  to  change 
our  calculating  state  of  mind  into  the  sleep  state  of 
mind.  We  see  in  this  how  possible  it  is  for  us  to  pass 
from  one  undesirable  state  of  mind  into  another,  and 
how  difficult  it  may  be  to  get  into  that  state  of  mind 
we  desire  to  be  in.  It  is  the  object  of  this  work  to 
show  how  this  can  best  be  done.  To  do  this  it  will 
be  necessary  to  study  the  laws  governing  the  trans- 
ference of  mind  from  one  state  into  another,  in 
order  to  find  out  Row  Reason — the  voice  of  which  is 
the  Will — can  control  the  operation.  It  is  worth  our 
while  to  make  a  careful  study  of  this,  for  if  success- 
ful in  learning  the  operation  of  these  laws  we  can  at 
once  cause  our  minds  to  pass  from  a  diseased  into  a 
healthy  state,  and  have  our  bodies  perfectly  express 
the  state  of  mind  we  desire  to  be  in. 

It  will  be  impossible  to  learn  the  operations  of  the 
law  governing  the  change  of  the  sap  into  the  branch 
or  leaf  of  the  tree,  and  we  would  study  in  vain  the 
blood  of  a  dog  for  signs  of  why  and  how  that  blood 
changes  into  hair,  or  bone,  or  teeth.  There  are 
things,  however,  that  we  appear  to  be  able  by  me- 
chanical contrivances  to  change  into  other  things  of 
a  different  state  of  mind.  We  cannot  change  a  sheep 
into  a  dog,  not  only  because  we  do  not  know  how, 
but  because  there  is  no  how — it  is  impossible  to 
change  one  Consciousness  into  another.  And  when 


112  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

we  appear  by  means  of  the  telephone  to  change 
sounds  into  electricity  and  back  again  into  sounds, 
we  must  decide  that  we  only  appear  to  do  this.  As  it 
is  we  talk  into  the  receptacle  made  to  receive  the 
sound  of  our  voice,  and  we  know  that  the  sound,  as 
sound,  cannot  be  successfully  carried  over  the  miles 
of  wire  connecting  us  with  the  thing  the  listener  puts 
to  his  ear,  so  we  crudely  conclude  that  by  some  hocus- 
pocus  the  sound  is  converted  into  electricity  on  our 
end  of  the  wire,  and  back  into  sound  at  the  other 
end.  It  is  not  so.  The  vibrations  of  our  voice  strike 
the  plate  which  in  the  telephone  represents  the  tym- 
panum of  our  ears,  and  it  would  be  well  to  inquire 
here  into  what  is  the  sound  changed  on  the  other  side 
of  our  tympanum  so  as  to  make  it  audible  to  that 
most  delicate  of  all  mechanisms,  our  brain.  Is  it 
changed  at  all?  What  is  "sound"?  Sound  is  vibra- 
tion. But  then  everything  else  is  vibration.  Every- 
thing we  see  about  us  is  produced  by  vibrations  of 
various  velocities.  Intelligible  sounds  are  produced 
by  an  arrangement  of  the  velocities  of  the  vibrations 
in  a  manner  which  we  are  accustomed  to  interpret 
by  usage,  habit.  In  speaking  into  the  telephone  we 
must  follow  this  usage  to  be  intelligible,  and  we  thus 
produce  a  set  of  vibrations  which  are  heard  and 
understood  afar  off.  Do  these  vibrations  of  the 
atoms  in  the  atmosphere  change  into  the  vibrations  of 


LIVING — A  SERIES  OF  STATES  OF  MIND     1 1 3 

the  atoms  of  electricity,  no  matter  what  they  are 
called,  ions  or  electrons  ?  If  so,  there  must  be  a 
point  at  which  the  sound  ceases  and  the  electric  phe- 
nomena begin.  This  point  of  cessation  must  exist, 
whether  the  sound  becomes  electricity  or,  as  is  the 
fact,  the  vibrations  of  sound  arouse  electrical  vibra- 
tions which  are  carried  over  the  wire  and  there  by 
mechanical  contrivance  arouse  vibrations  of  sound, 
which  are  to  a  great  extent  identical  with  the  sound 
vibrations  made  by  the  speaker.  It  has  already  been 
noted  that  when  power  when  expressed  as  action  in  a 
set  direction  is  deflected  by  another  power,  there  is 
an  instant  of  time,  though  not  an  interval  of  time, 
during  which  the  object  propelled  in  one  direction 
rests  before  starting  in  the  direction  to  which  it  is 
deflected  by  the  opposing  power.  We  recognize  the 
necessity  of  this,  because  we  understand  that  no  object 
can  go  in  two  directions  at  once,  just  as  it  cannot 
be  two  things  at  once;  that  is,  when  the  ball  thrown 
by  the  pitcher  is  struck  by  the  bat  expressing  greater 
power,  it  rests  for  an  instant  of  time,  not  an  interval 
of  time,  before  taking  its  deflected  course.  So  the 
sounds  going  into  the  telephone  must  rest,  that  is, 
fall  into  stillness,  equilibrium,  before  they  start  on 
their  way  as  electrical  vibrations.  The  electricity 
stored  in  a  telephone  to  receive  and  transmit  these 
vibrations  is  adjusted  in  its  power  to  the  sounds  ex- 


114  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

pected,  and  we  all  know  that  if  we  talk  unusually 
loudly  or  whisper  we  are  not  intelligible  at  the  other 
end  of  the  wire.  So  we  can  understand  that  the 
electricity  stored  to  take  on  the  vibrations  of  the 
sound  is  calculated  for  the  purpose.  As  a  perfectly 
clear  understanding  of  this  point  is  necessary,  let  us 
exercise  our  minds  for  a  few  moments  with  tangible 
examples  that  in  changing  from  one  thing  to  another 
we  must  go  through  something  different  from  both. 
In  travelling  we  learn  that  we  must  change  railway 
stations  at  a  certain  point  in  order  to  continue  our 
journey.  We  learn  that  these  stations  are  on  different 
sides  of  the  city,  and  of  course  we  know  that  we  will 
have  to  PASS  THROUGH  the  city  in  making  the 
change.  Again,  we  learn  that  we  have  to  change 
trains  at  a  certain  station,  and  we  know  that  we  must 
pass  through  some  part  of  that  station  or  yard  in 
making  this  change;  this  is  a  less  important  change 
than  the  other,  but  it  is  equally  necessary,  and  it  is 
equally  true  that  we  must  pass  through  something 
in  order  to  make  it.  Again,  it  may  be  that  we  change 
coaches  at  a  certain  point;  it  may  be  at  some  station 
or  in  transit.  In  making  this  change,  though  less 
difficult  still,  we  know  we  must  go  through  something 
different  from  the  coach  we  are  in  or  the  one  to 
which  we  are  going,  in  order  to  accomplish  it;  i.  e., 
we  must  go  through  something  that  is  neither  the 


LIVING — A  SERIES  OF  STATES  OF  MIND     1 1 5 

coach  we  are  in  nor  the  coach  to  which  we  are  going, 
though  it  is  only  the  atmosphere  between  the  plat- 
forms of  the  two  coaches.  We  take  our  seat  in  the 
coach  selected,  but  decide  to  change  it  for  another 
seat.  We  know  that  we  have  to  pass  through  a  por- 
tion of  the  car  that  is  neither  one  seat  nor  the  other, 
in  making  this  change.  Do  we  know  that  when  we 
changed  our  minds  as  to  which  was  the  preferable 
seat  we  mentally  passed  through  something  in  mak- 
ing the  change?  Having  got  back  to  the  intangible, 
let  us  hold  steady  for  a  moment  and  ask  ourselves 
through  what  our  state  of  mind  passed  in  changing 
from  the  state  in  which  it  preferred  one  seat,  to  the 
state  in  which  it  preferred  another.  It  certainly 
passed  through  something,  for  in  reality  the  changing 
from  one  state  of  mind  to  another  was  as  actual  as 
the  changing  from  one  railway  station  to  another, 
from  one  train  to  another,  from  one  car  to  another, 
from  one  seat  to  another.  Between  the  two  states 
of  mind  there  must  have  been  Something  or  there 
could  have  been  no  change,  for  if  there  had  been  no 
Something  the  two  states  of  mind  would  have  been 
identical.  In  using  the  word  "Something"  we  are 
technically  incorrect,  because  that  through  which  we 
pass  is  no  Thing,  it  being  Unexpressed  Life,  the  In- 
finite. This  must  be  so,  as  nothing  can  separate  two 
Expressed  Things  which  are  so  fine  and  closely  asso- 


1 1 6  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

ciated  as  is  the  Expressed  Thought  changing  into 
another  Expressed  Thought,  except  Unexpressed 
Mind,  the  Omnipresent.  We  may  not  be  able  to 
conceive  of  the  minutiae — to  use  a  term  of  Time  and 
Space  to  make  this  discussion  intelligible — of  inter- 
vening Unexpressed  Mind,  but  we  must  realize  its 
importance  as  a  resisting  or  conveying  power  if  we 
are  to  understand  ourselves.  It  is  Infinite  Life, 
which,  being  indivisible,  has  all  the  qualities  and 
powers,  in  those  separating  minutiae,  of  its  entirety. 
Through  it  the  Universal  Urge  must  carry  the  thought 
desiring  to  change,  or  it  cannot  change.  If  owing  to 
obedience  to  its  own  law  it  refuses  to  pass  the  state 
of  mind  desiring  to  change  into  another  state  of  mind, 
the  change  cannot  be  effected ;  universal  necessity 
requires  this.  If  one  state  of  mind  could  change  into 
another  state  of  mind  without  the  consent  of  Infinite 
Mind,  chaos  would  be  the  result.  Thought  is  so 
subtle  a  thing  that  its  operations  could  not  be  con- 
trolled in  any  other  way.  If  it  were  not  so,  and  you 
properly  appreciated  the  power  of  Mind  and  were 
sufficiently  fond  of  being  a  bird,  you  might  will  to 
change  your  human  state  of  mind  into  a  bird  state 
of  mind  and  become  an  expression  of  the  latter.  This 
change  of  state  of  mind  would  not  be  passed  by  the 
Infinite  Mind,  because  it  is  opposed  to  its  creative 
fiat  that  one  Consciousness — which  is  itself  a  state  of 


LIVING — A  SERIES  OF  STATES  OF  MIND     1 1 7 

mind — cannot  transfer  itself  or  be  transferred  to  an- 
other state  of  mind  involving  a  change  of  Conscious- 
ness. The  Infinite  Mind  is  therefore  the  censor 
which  must  pass  one  state  of  mind  into  another  state 
of  mind  in  every  Expressed  thing.  The  rules  of  its 
censorship  are  what  we  call  the  laws  of  Nature,  and 
have  nothing  to  do  with  what  we  call  moral  laws,  the 
questions  of  right  and  wrong,  which  arise  only  in  the 
human  mind,  alone  capable  of  reasoning,  being  left 
for  decision  to  Reason.  For  instance,  a  multimillion- 
aire may  be  in  the  state  of  mind  to  give  fifty  million 
dollars  to  educational  and  charitable  institutions. 
Something  disgusts  him  with  the  management  of 
some  such  institution  and  he  decides  to  build  a  chain 
of  breweries  costing  fifty  million  dollars,  instead  of 
a  chain  of  hospitals  and  colleges.  Now  it  would  sug- 
gest itself  to  every  ardent  Prohibitionist  that  the  In- 
finite, including  as  It  does  all  Wisdom,  all  Kindness, 
all  Foresight,  could  not  allow  such  a  change  of  mind 
to  take  place.  Even  those  not  particularly  concerned 
with  the  evils  of  the  drink  habit,  looking  at  this  ques- 
tion in  the  ordinary  way,  would  say,  "Surely  if  the 
Infinite  censors  every  change  in  the  state  of  every 
mind  it  could  not  overlook  the  good  it  would  do  to 
the  community,  to  the  nation,  by  refusing  to  allow 
this  change  of  the  millionaire's  mind."  The  mistake 
in  these  opinions  of  what  the  Infinite  should  do  arises 


1 18  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

from  the  judgment  of  Infinite  Rightness  from  the 
standpoint  of  human  Rightness.  If  the  Infinite  as- 
sumed a  moral  censorship  and  made  impossible  the 
change  in  the  millionaire's  mind,  It  would  at  once 
neutralize  his  Being,  i.  e.,  destroy  his  Free  Will, 
prevent  him  using  his  Reason.  This  would  instantly 
defeat  the  object  of  Man's  existence,  for  if  done  in 
one  instance  it  would  have  to  be  done  in  every  in- 
stance, for  Infinity  makes  no  exceptions,  and  the  Free 
Will  of  the  whole  human  race  would  be  at  once  made 
impossible.  "Aha !"  cries  the  anti-Prohibitionist. 
"Then  if  the  Infinite  refuses  to  prohibit  anything, 
what  right  have  we  finite  creatures  to  enact  prohibi- 
tory laws?"  The  answer  is  simple.  Our  Subcon- 
sciousnesses,  our  individualities,  are  built  up  by  testing 
the  Tightness  of  our  Reason.  The  law  of  Evolution  and 
of  "the  survival  of  the  fittest"  is  nothing  but  Expressed 
Nature's  contest  with  experience.  Even  Unreasoning 
Nature  has  by  the  law  of  its  Being  a  right  to  protect 
itself  in  every  possible  way.  Reasoning  Life  has  the 
same  right,  and  if  a  community  sees  fit  to  prohibit 
the  sale  cr  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  it  has  a  right 
to  do  so  in  order  to  test  the  Tightness  of  such  a  pro- 
cedure. We  may  say  that  a  prohibitory  law  unduly 
restricts  human  Free  Will.  It  may  be  so,  but  it  is 
not  always  so.  What  the  human  race  has  established 
as  right  and  wrong  is  the  result  of  Experience.  The 


LIVING — A  SERIES  OF  STATES  OF  MIND     119 

measure  of  a  nation's  civilization  is  to  be  found  in  the 
limitations  within  which  it  confines  the  individual. 
In  all  so-called  civilized  nations  the  rights  of  life  and 
property  are  protected.  Forgery,  arson,  theft  and 
murder  are  very  rightly  prohibited,  though,  as  we 
have  seen,  they  are  not  prohibited  by  Infinite  law  or 
they  would  not  occur  as  they  do.  Thus  we  see  that 
ideas  we  have  established  as  Right  and  Wrong  are 
the  outgrowth  of  Reason,  Experience,  and  are  not  of 
Divine  authority  or  patterned  after  Infinite  Right- 
ness  except  as  they  evince  the  working  of  the  Infinite 
Urge  to  Rightness.  When  we  transgress  these  right 
human  laws  we  hurt  ourselves ;  we  cannot  hurt  Infin- 
ity. The  opportunity  to  hurt  ourselves  is  freely  and 
fully  given  us  by  Infinity  in  order  that  we  may  learn 
not  to  do  so  by  our  arrival  at  a  state  of  Rightness  of 
our  Own  Finding. 

Sometimes  we  are  impelled  by  elemental  laws 
that  are  not  fully  comprehended,  to  do  what  has 
been  established  as  a  Wrong  thing.  Let  us  take 
as  an  illustration  a  suspicious  husband,  who  in  the 
evening,  during  the  absence  of  his  wife,  discovers 
a  letter  which  he  considers  fully  to  establish 
her  faithlessness.  Almost  instantly  his  state  of  mind 
changes  from  suspicion  into  murder.  He  resolves 
to  kill  the  man  who  has  dared  to  rob  HIM  of  the 
complete  possession  of  his  wife.  Here  we  see  the 


120  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

elemental  Egoism  of  all  Nature  projecting  itself. 
Every  elemental  atom  considers  itself  the  center  of 
Life,  and,  as  has  been  shown,  every  man  considers 
himself  as  the  center  of  Life  in  his  elemental  concept 
of  himself.  He  resolves  to  show  this  intruder  who  is 
the  Best  Man — the  impulse  of  the  "survival  of  the 
fittest."  The  male  of  every  species  is  willing  to  fight 
to  the  death — unless  governed  by  Reason — to  show 
that  It  is  the  best  of  its  kind.  This  is  an  elemental 
impulse  allowed  by  Infinity  for  the  development  of 
each  species.  We  prohibit  this  sort  of  thing  amongst 
men,  as  such  contests  are  not  ordinarily  demonstra- 
tions of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  but  merely  prove 
which  contestant  is  better  armed  or  takes  the  fewest 
chances  of  being  killed.  Moreover,  Reason  has  shown 
better  ways  of  allowing  men  to  show  their  fitness 
to  survive.  The  murderous  husband,  however,  in 
re-reading  the  letter  has  another  change  in  his  state 
of  mind,  and  the  change  is  as  fully  and  freely  allowed 
by  Infinity  as  was  the  first.  His  stormily  working 
Reason  decides  that  his  wife  has  been  the  temptress 
and  is  more  to  blame  than  the  man.  He  resolves  to 
kill  his  wife,  that  she  is  not  fit  to  survive.  He  will 
show  Her  his  Superiority.  How  dare  She  betray 
Him,  the  center  of  the  Universe  to  himself?  Again 
the  elemental  law  of  Egoism!  to  be  worked  in  the 
form  made  necessary  in  the  development  of  the  species 


LIVING — A  SERIES  OF  STATES  OF  MIND     121 

when  the  Best  Man  selected  the  Best  Mate  for  the 
propagation  of  the  species,  and  felt  that  he  had  a 
perfect  right  to  keep  her  or  kill  her  as  he  saw  fit. 
He  puts  a  revolver  in  his  pocket  and  hides  by  the 
front  gate,  prepared  to  kill  her,  and  her  'paramour  as 
well  if  he  accompanies  her  home.  As  it  happens,  she 
comes  home  with  some  friends,  and  he  defers  carry- 
ing out  his  purpose  until  they  leave.  She  then,  see- 
ing that  something  is  wrong  with  him,  asks  him  what 
is  the  matter,  and  he  shows  her  the  letter.  Fortu- 
nately for  her,  she  is  able  to  convince  him  that  he  is 
absolutely  wrong  in  his  reasoning,  and  he  again 
changes  his  state  of  mind.  All  of  which  goes  to 
prove  that  our  codes  of  Right  and  Wrong  are  estab- 
lished by  our  reasoning,  not  by  Infinity  itself,  Which 
does  no  more  than  Urge  us  in  the  right  direction. 

These  illustrations  are  sufficient  to  indicate  the 
character  of  the  censorship  of  the  Infinite  in  merging 
one  state  of  mind  into  another.  It  observes  its  own 
creative  fiat ;  that  is,  it  observes  its  own  laws,  or  chaos 
would  be  the  result;  it  sees  that  everything  else 
obeys  these  laws  to  avoid  the  same  result.  Now  we 
ought  to  be  able  to  comprehend  how  universal  har- 
mony is  preserved  in  Unreasoning  Nature,  where 
everything,  being  Mind,  wills,  thinks,  in  perfect  uni- 
son with  the  Infinite  Mind.  The  continuation  of  this 


122  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

study,  the  task  of  finding  how  Reasoning  Beings, 
who  are  alone  liable  to  get  out  of  harmony  with  the 
Infinite,  can  restore  this  harmony,  is  the  most  difficult 
part  of  it. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
LAW — THE  INFINITE;  As  IT  WORKS  IN  NATURE 

Law — Infinite  and  otherwise — to  be  effective,  must 
be  intelligible  and  enforceable.  Law  is  but  a  fixed 
method  of  doing  things.  Infinite  law  is  the  set  meth- 
od which  we  have  observed  in  the  conduct  of  all  Ex- 
pressions of  Life,  and  have  concluded,  from  its  regu- 
larity, to  be  invariable.  The  basis  of  Infinite  law 
seems  to  be  simple.  Infinity  is  Rightness,  and  the 
beginning  of  everything,  then,  was  Right.  Having 
started  everything  Right — its  first  action — its  second 
is  to  keep  everything  Right.  That  everything,  having 
been  made  Right  and  Indestructible,  must  remain 
Right  after  its  Kind,  is  the  only  Infinite  law.  Thus, 
Infinity  itself  will  not  interfere  with  nor  change  any 
Expressed  Consciousness,  and  will  not  allow  any 
Expressed  Consciousness  to  interfere  with  or  change 
any  other  Expressed  Consciousness  except  by  sug- 
gestion. The  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness,  i.  e.,  the 
eternal  impulse  given  to  every  Thing  to  become  the 
best  thing  of  its  species,  is  the  Expression  of  the  only 
Infinite  law.  This  law  controls  all  Reasoning  and 
Unreasoning  Nature.  In  Unreasoning  Nature  it  re- 


124  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

suits  in  automatic  Tightness,  no  penalty  being  pro- 
vided for  its  infraction,  as  infraction  is  impossible. 
In  Reasoning  Nature — Man — it  works  as  certainly  as 
in  Unreasoning  Nature,  and  carries  no  penalties  ex- 
cept such  as  Man  inflicts  upon  himself  by  his  use  or 
misuse  of  Reason. 

The  laws  of  Human  Consciousness  are  those  gov- 
erning : 

(1)  The    Supra-Consciousness,    which    is    Infinite 
Life  filling  Man  to  his  fulness.     This,  being  Infinite 
except  as  it  is  limited  by  being  a  Consciousness,  is 
governed   by   Infinite   Law   only,   the   Expression  of 
which  is  the  Eternal  Urge  to  Rightness,  and  carries 
no  penalty  for  infraction,  as  it  cannot  be  broken.     It 
is  the  law  of  the  Rightness  that  is  TO  BE. 

(2)  The   Sub-Consciousness.     This   is  the  law  of 
Memory,  of  Habit,  of  what  has  been  in  the  making 
up  of  this  Sub-Consciousness.     It  carries  as  the  pen- 
alty of  its  infraction  the  disturbance  and  unrest  con- 
sequent upon  going  contrary  to  habit,  which  excites 
fear  as  to  what  will  be  the  result  if  this  course  is 
persisted   in;    it   is    the   law   of   the   Rightness   that 
HAS  BEEN. 

(3)  Reason.    This  is  the  law  of  what  we  consider 
to  be  right  at  the  moment  when  we  are  deciding  to 


THE  INFINITE  AS  IT  WORKS  IN  NATURE      125 

think — to  act.  It  carries  the  penalty  of  fear  as  to  the 
result  if  we  do  not  act  as  we  consider  right;  it  is  the 
law  of  NOW. 

While  endeavoring  to  find  the  law  of  OUR  Being, 
we  find  amidst  the  Expressions  of  Life  in  the  animal, 
vegetable,  and  mineral  kingdoms  such  a  uniformity 
of  principle  and  progress  that  we  are  bound  to  accept 
them  as  manifestations  of  an  Infinite  law.  And  rea- 
soning by  analogy  we  can  obtain  glimpses,  faint  but 
guiding,  of  the  Law  of  Being  itself.  Science  teaches 
us  of  the  beginning  of  material  things,  and  has  demon- 
strated that  they  began,  as  they  begin,  in  the  simplest 
form  to  us  conceivable.  Thus  when  we  seek  to  for- 
mulate the  idea  of  the  first  Expression  of  animal  life 
within  the  means  with  which  Reason  and  experience 
have  provided  us,  we  find  it  with  but  a  single  cell, 
adding  to  itself  according  to  its  necessities  and  en- 
vironment such  other  cells  as  have  at  last  produced 
that  which  appeals  to  us  as  the  climax  of  complex  cellu- 
lar organisms — the  human  body.  As  this  rule  seems 
to  establish  the  fecundated  egg  of  the  simplest  variety 
of  each  species  in  the  animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral 
kingdoms  as  the  beginning  of  the  Expressions  of 
Life  reachable  by  human  knowledge,  so  we  may  con- 
clude that  the  Law  of  Being,  which  has  made  the 
law  of  OUR  Being  progressive,  contains  all  the  ele- 
ments of  progress.  Furthermore,  it  having  been  es- 


126  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

tablished  that  all  Expressed  Life  is  known  to  us  as 
motion,  vibration,  so  we  may  reasonably  conclude  that 
Infinite  Life  contained,  and  still  contains,  though  of 
necessity  it  is  Still,  all  the  elements  necessary  to  the 
causation  of  motion,  vibration.  This  we  call  the  Infi- 
nite Urge.  As  astronomy  has  proven  by  the  spec- 
trum that  conditions  in  the  most  distant  planets  and 
stars  are  comparable  with  the  conditions  existing 
here,  we  may  again  reasonably  conclude  that  Life  is 
Omnipresent,  without  center,  circumference,  or  a  par- 
ticle of  variation  in  its  All-ness.  Its  Omnipotence,  its 
Omniscience,  are  equally  obvious.  It  is  important 
that  we  bear  all  these  things  distinctly  and  constantly 
in  mind  while  trying  to  bring  any  operation  of  the 
Infinite  within  the  scope  of  our  understanding.  For 
example,  we  must  remember,  when  we  desire  to 
bring  our  Being  into  harmony  with  the  Infinite  Be- 
ing, the  instant  thought  of  our  Consciousness  makes 
instantly  operative  the  Law  of  Being  which  is  in 
silent  control  of  every  cell  of  our  organism.  We  do 
not  need  to  go  afield  or  afar  to  reach  that  which  we 
seek.  It  is  here,  within  us.  As  the  Great  Philosophy 
declares,  "Say  not  lo  here!  and  lo  there!  for  the 
Kingdom  (state — condition)  of  Good  is  within  you." 

The  Infinite  law — as  we  have  become  aware  of  it — 
affects  OUR  Being  only,  as  it  establishes  the  inviolabil- 
ity of  Consciousness  and  urges  us  to  Rightness.  The 


THE;  INFINITE  AS  IT  WORKS  IN  NATURE      127 

best  conception  we  can  have  of  Creation  is  the  Infi- 
nite Thought  expressing  itself  as  a  Consciousness. 
We,  having  the  power  of  thought,  can  create  finite 
things.  The  author's  thought  becomes  the  book,  the 
artist's  thought  becomes  the  picture,  the  architect's 
thought  becomes  the  building,  the  musician's  thought 
becomes  the  melody,  in  each  case  the  thought  pre- 
ceding the  thing.  We  can  conceive  of  the  Infinite 
thinking  a  man  and  beginning  him  as  a  single  cell. 
Equally  reasonable  is  it  to  think  of  Infinite  Life  thus 
creating  the  many  forms  of  Expression  found  in  the 
animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral  kingdoms.  With  these 
creations  came  the  Infinite  fiat  that  every  Conscious- 
ness should  develop  according  to  its  Kind.  Thus 
every  atom  of  Expressed  Life  has  a  Consciousness 
peculiarly  and  inviolably  its  own.  The  Consciousness 
of  a  Thing  is  what  the  Thing  knows  itself  to  be  and 
what  it  is  for.  What  it  knows  is  what  Life  Expressed 
it  to  be.  Unexpressed  Life  is  the  no-thingness  of  the 
Universe.  The  Expressed  Life  which  has  been  called 
into  Being  with  a  special  characteristic  or  individual- 
ity is  the  Thingness  of  the  Universe.  The  creative  fiat 
controlling  all  Things  is  indisputably  that  no  Thing 
can  change  or  destroy  another  Thing — change  or 
destroy  being  used  in  the  Infinite  sense.  This  is  the 
basis  of  what  scientists  were  in  the  habit  of  calling 
the  Indestructibility  of  Matter,  which  allows  matter 


128  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

to  change  its  form  while  the  elemental  particles  retain 
their  original  individuality  or  Consciousness  under  all 
circumstances.  Thus  oxygen  may  unite  with  hydro- 
gen and  appear  as  water,  which  in  turn,  when  sub- 
jected to  a  certain  amount  of  heat,  becomes  steam,  or 
in  a  certain  intensity  of  cold — ice.  But  each  original 
particle,  each  sentient  thing,  remains  the  same  in  all 
combinations.  "Sentient  thing"  is  here  used  in  the 
Infinite  sense,  that  every  Expression  of  Life,  no  mat- 
ter whether  it  be  a  particle  of  rock  or  a  cell  in  the 
human  body,  knows  something  as  a  Consciousness, 
though  the  grades  of  Consciousness  vary  as  widely  as 
the  vibrations  of  the  Universe.  Thus  when  the 
globule  of  water  meets  the  freezing  air  it  knows  what 
to  do.  It  combines  with  other  globules  of  its  own 
sort,  invariably  taking  the  same  shape  and  doing  the 
same  thing.  The  combined  particles  form  prisms, 
snow  or  ice,  and  expand,  and  this  we  must  attribute 
to  Consciousness,  as  we  attribute  to  Consciousness 
the  budding  of  the  flower,  the  instinct  of  the  dog,  the 
knowledge  of  Man.  The  various  grades  of  Con- 
sciousness function  in  their  own  way.  When  an  alkali 
meets  an  acid  it  precipitates  a  salt.  When  one  part  of 
oxygen  meets  two  parts  of  hydrogen,  water  is  the 
result.  In  no  case  is  water  the  result  of  the  meeting 
of  the  acid  and  alkali,  nor  is  salt  the  result  of  the 
union  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen;  this  is  Law.  Every- 


INFINITE  AS  IT  WORKS  IN  NATURE      129 

thing  is  Mind  in  some  stage  of  refinement,  and  Mind 
is  sentient  always,  though  in  its  crudest  Expressions, 
as  in  mud  and  rock,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  the 
atoms  being  possessed  of  any  power  of  thought.  Yet 
it  is  so. 

The  inviolability  of  Consciousness  appears  in  its 
true  importance  when  we  begin  to  consider  the 
Human  Consciousness.  Man  in  his  development 
from  the  single  cell  had  always  within  his  Conscious- 
ness the  developments  he  has  made.  The  possibilities 
of  a  Shakespeare,  a  Napoleon,  an  Edison,  were  all  in 
that  original  cell,  which,  had  there  been  a  microscope 
at  the  time  it  came  into  existence,  might  scarcely 
have  been  visible  under  the  most  powerful  lens.  The 
development  may  have  taken  millions  of  years. 
Thought  of  from  the  point  of  view  of  Infinity,  Man 
came  up  from  yesterday,  and  with  this  in  mind  the 
most  daring  prophet  could  not  exceed  the  truth  in 
foretelling  what  he  may  be  a  million  years  hence; 
for  Man  alone,  as  far  as  has  been  discoverable,  is 
possessed  of  reasoning  faculties  which  give  him  the 
right  and  the  power  to  change  his  own  Conscious- 
ness— an  overwhelmingly  marvelous  privilege  and 
power  which  by  creative  fiat  Infinity  withholds  itself 
from  exercising.  The  denial  to  Itself  of  the  right 
arbitrarily  to  change  the  human  Consciousness,  that 


130  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE; 

is,  to  change  it  without  being  invited  by  that  Con- 
sciousness to  do  so,  was  the  gift  to  Man  of  what 
Theologians  call  Free  Will. 

It  is  evident  that  Life  with  us,  for  us,  began  with 
the  first  Expression  of  Infinity  of  a  Something  cog- 
nizable by  the  human  Consciousness.  While  forms  of 
Expression,  aggregate  Expressiveness,  may  change  in 
a  million  ways,  the  original  Expressed  atom  remains 
inviolable,  holding  latent  or  developed  all  the  possi- 
bilities of  its  species  throughout  eternity.  Man,  as 
such  an  Expression,  is  under  the  same  law,  for  it 
must  be  remembered  that,  so  far  as  is  known,  the 
human  species  is  alone  given  power  to  change  its  own 
Consciousness;  that  is,  to  open  or  close  it  to  the  in- 
coming of  Infinite  Life.  Without  arguing  this  fur- 
ther at  present,  this  necessarily  postulates  that  the 
Infinite  gift  to  the  human  Consciousness  of  the  self- 
creative  faculty — not  as  to  species,  but  as  to  the  man- 
ner and  time  of  its  development — must  make  each 
such  Consciousness  as  indestructible  as  is  the  original 
Expressed  atom,  known  to  science  as  the  elemental, 
the  indestructible.  If  this  be  granted,  it  of  course 
settles  the  question  of  the  immortality  of  the  human 
Consciousness,  which  will  be  considered  later  on. 

The  Law  of  Being  not  only  provides  for  the  safe- 
keeping of  each  of  its  Expressions,  but  makes  infinite 


THE  INFINITE;  AS  IT  WORKS  IN  NATURE      131 

provisions  for  the  conduct  of  all  its  Expressions  as  a 
Unit.  Thus  the  Universe  becomes  AN  Expression — 
every  Thing  is  Life,  and  all  things  are  Expressed 
Life.  The  Infinite  impulse  of  Expression  finds  its 
reflection  in  humanity,  in  its  unreasoning  eagerness  to 
propagate  and  preserve  the  being  of  its  species.  All 
humanity  is  organized  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  to 
preserve  the  unit  and  the  unity  of  the  race.  The 
normal  man  is  a  sociable  being  and  desires  contact 
with  his  fellows,  hence  the  marked  attractiveness  of 
our  great  centers  of  population.  This,  however,  is 
but  the  working  out  of  the  Law  of  Being,  which 
causes  the  atoms  of  sand,  and  mud,  and  water,  and 
metal,  to  associate  according  to  their  Kind,  forming 
land  as  plains  and  mountains,  water  as  lakes,  rivers, 
seas,  and  oceans.  If  it  were  not  for  this  impulse  of 
association  the  particles  would  remain  diffused  and 
there  would  be  no  land,  only  dust;  no  water,  only 
disassociated  particles  of  moisture.  We  speak  of  this 
association  of  particles  as  the  law  of  Attraction, 
Gravitation,  Repulsion,  etc.,  and  this  leads  us  to  the 
consideration  of  what  is  Law  and  the  basis  of  the 
movement  of  things. 

A  law  is  an  expression  of  Consciousness  to  Con- 
sciousness of  a  fixed  method  of  doing  things.  A 
human  law  to  be  effectual  must  be  intelligible,  possi- 
ble of  fulfillment,  and  made  by  a  power  able  to  en- 


132  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

force  it;  less  than  this  we  do  not  expect  of  Infinite 
Law ;  of  more  than  this  we  cannot  conceive.  History 
shows  us  that  from  the  beginning  of  recorded  events 
Man  has  patterned  his  laws  after  those  he  attributed 
to  the  Being,  or  Beings,  which  he  reverenced  as 
Supreme.  This  indicates  a  universal  impulse  toward 
the  doing  of  things  in  an  orderly  manner,  and 
though  these  conceptions  of  Deity,  Rightness,  have 
varied  from  the  period  when  might  alone  was  right, 
up  to  the  present  day,  when  government  by  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed  is  the  established  principle  of 
lawmaking  in  all  civilized  countries,  yet  the  fact  that 
we  have  always  been  governed  by  laws  of  this  sort 
proves  that  Man  is  moved  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
by  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness.  From  this  and 
from  observation  of  the  workings  of  Infinite  law  in 
Nature,  we  may  postulate  that  Life,  Mind,  are 
synonymous  with  Rightness.  This  being  the  case,  we 
must  incline,  though  not  force  nor  distort,  our  finite 
reasoning  powers  to  the  establishment  in  our  Con- 
sciousness of  the  Rightness  of  everything  that  is 
Infinite. 

Let  us  then  turn  to  the  examination  of  Infinite  law 
by  the  light  of  the  principles  predicated  as  essential 
in  effective  human  laws.  "LAW  must  be  intelligi- 
ble." The  green  atom,  or  the  combination  of  atoms 
which  takes  on  a  green  color  as  its  Consciousness, 


INFINITE  AS  IT  WORKS  IN  NATURE      133 

knows  that  it  is  the  law  of  its  being  to  resist  light; 
it  is  its  Consciousness  of  Rightness.  A  dark  green 
paper  blind  a  sixteenth  of  an  inch  thick,  if  placed 
over  the  only  aperture  in  a  room  intended  to  admit 
light,  will  effectually  exclude  it.  Its  power  of  what 
we  call  physical  resistance  is  trivial  as  compared  with 
the  penetrating  powei  of  light,  which  will  shine 
through  glass  ten  tin?"s  as  thick  and  dense  as  the 
green  paper.  Indeed,  't  has  been  demonstrated  by 
scientists  that  light — whether  it  be  a  corpuscle  emitted 
by  the  sun,  or  an  ion  of  infinitesimal  size  which  pro- 
duces light  by  agitating  ether  into  waves — travels 
from  the  sun  to  the  earth,  ninety-three  million  miles, 
in  eight  minutes,  or  over  180,000  miles  a  second.  The 
idea  of  this  incomprehensible  velocity  being  stopped 
by  a  "mere  scrap"  of  green  paper  by  physical  force, 
is  as  absurd  as  would  be  the  project  of  stopping  an 
express  train  going  at  sixty  miles  an  hour  by  a  little 
pellet  of  paper  put  upon  the  track.  Yet  sound,  which 
travels  at  a  much  less  velocity  than  light,  is  not  ex- 
cluded by  the  paper  blind.  Why?  Because  the  Con- 
sciousness of  the  green  atom,  or  the  "green"  Subcon- 
sciousness  of  the  combination  of  atoms,  its  Mind 
power,  is  to  resist  light,  though  not  sound,  while  the 
Subconsciousness  of  the  atoms  which  compose  the 
glass  is  to  admit  light.  To  these  atoms  the  law  of 
being  opaque  on  one  hand,  and  transparent  on  the 


134  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

other,  is  instantly  intelligible  and  meets  with  instant 
obedience,  and  by  creative  fiat  this  Consciousness  is 
made  inviolable.  If  there  were  no  opaque  Conscious- 
ness or  Subconsciousness  there  would  be  no  dark- 
ness, no  shade,  apparently  so  necessary  in  the  Infinite 
economy.  The  stone  thrown  into  the  air  falls  to  the 
earth.  Why?  Because  of  the  community  impulse  or 
Consciousness  of  the  atoms  composing  the  stone,  and 
of  the  same  Consciousness  in  the  atoms  composing  the 
earth.  This  is  called  the  Law  of  Gravitation,  the 
desire  of  atoms  to  assemble  themselves  according  to 
their  kind  and  density.  To  them  the  Infinite  law 
controlling  their  conduct  is  instantly  intelligible; 
necessarily  so,  as  is  their  instant  obedience.  To 
ensure  the  latter,  Infinity  has  given  them  no  power  of 
choice,  because  if  for  an  instant  what  we  call  the  non- 
organic  atoms  were  to  hesitate  or  refuse  to  use  all 
their  inherent  power  to  assemble  themselves,  that  part 
of  the  Universe  which  we  consider  solid  would  in- 
stantly diffuse  itself  and  there  would  be  no  place  for 
organic  life.  Thus  it  is  seen  that  in  the  Infinite 
economy  the  lowest  order  of  Mind  is  constituted  to 
develop  the  higher.  Inorganic  matter  gives  out  in 
some  instances  noxious  and  deadly  emanations.  Why  ? 
To  develop  the  habit  life  of  those  things  which  draw 
their  sustenance  from  it,  thus  aiding  the  higher  devel- 
opment of  such  life. 


THE:  INFINITE;  AS  IT  WORKS  IN  NATURE:      135 

We  can  readily  understand  that  the  Consciousnesses 
of  the  particles  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  find  the 
Infinite  law  concerning  them  instantly  intelligible,  and 
though  the  law  gives  them  a  wider  scope  they,  too, 
are  instantly  responsive;  the  seed  germinating,  the 
plant,  the  tree  growing,  whenever  the  conditions  are 
Right.  If  a  wider  choice  were  given  to  the  vegetable 
atoms,  if  by  consulting  together  they  were  able  to  "go 
on  strike,"  as  it  were,  and  refuse  to  germinate  for 
two  or  three  years,  animal  life  would  be  deprived  of 
its  food  and  disappear.  True,  there  are  noxious  and 
deadly  vegetables,  but  their  purpose  is  to  train  the 
animal  life  which  feeds  upon  vegetables,  to  avoid 
them.  Thus  that  which  in  itself  seems  to  be  useless 
and  bad  is  shown  to  have  its  place  in  the  development 
of  animal  life.  Again  we  see  this  class  of  Conscious- 
ness so  constituted  as  to  develop  the  higher,  and  its 
limitations  of  Consciousness  are  seen  to  be  just  and 
necessary. 

In  the  animal  kingdom  also  we  can  observe  how 
instantly  intelligible  to  all  creatures  not  gifted  with 
Reason  is  the  law  governing  animal  life,  and  without 
going  into  details  find  justification  for  the  limitation 
of  animal  Consciousness  to  its  present  status.  Believ- 
ing, as  we  do,  and  have  done  for  many  centuries,  that 
Man  has  been  given  control  by  Infinite  Law  of  all 
living  things,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  animals 


136  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

other  than  Man  being  gifted  with  Reason,  which 
would  have  made  it  impossible  for  Man  to  dominate 
them.  As  it  is,  the  higher  animal  Consciousness  ap- 
proaches so  nearly  the  lower  human  intelligence  that 
it  is  possible  for  Man  to  make  laws  governing  domes- 
tic animals.  As  far  as  a  man  can  make  himself  intel- 
ligible to  his  dog  or  horse,  the  dog  or  horse  obeys 
him.  As  in  the  mineral  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  so 
in  the  animal  kingdom  there  are  Consciousnesses  which 
are  noxious  or  deadly,  and  for  the  same  reason — to 
develop  the  habit  life  of  Man  and  brute  alike.  Thus 
animals  gain  an  acuteness  and  an  alertness  in  avoid- 
ing other  animals  dangerous  to  them,  and  Man  also 
has  his  Consciousness  developed  by  avoiding  or  over- 
coming dangerous  animals. 

Man's  capacity  for  understanding  and  obeying  Infi- 
nite laws  will  be  dealt  with  in  a  chapter  on  Human 
Consciousness. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MAN  CAN  UNDERSTAND  INFINITE  LAWS  AND  Is 
EQUIPPED  TO  TAKE  CARE  OF  HIMSELF 

Now  let  us  examine  Man's  capacity  for  under- 
standing and  obeying  Infinite  laws.  With  the  law 
which  has  to  do  with  his  origin,  i.  e.,  "the  starting  of 
him  right,"  Man  has  nothing  to  do.  He  can  only 
accept  the  fact  that  he  is  Alive ;  that  his  Being  is  con- 
trolled by  the  same  power  that  controls  all  other  Ex- 
pressions of  Life;  that  he  has  been  brought  to  the 
degree  of  animal  perfection  at  which  he  has  arrived 
by  the  same  processes  that  have  brought  about  per- 
fection in  other  animals,  vegetable  and  inorganic 
things,  all  of  which  Think  but  do  not  Reason.  Man 
alone  reasons.  Thinking  is  that  mental  operation 
which  causes  action — action  being  merely  the  expres- 
sion of  the  thought.  All  Unreasoning  Nature  thinks 
as  the  Infinite  intended  it  should  think,  and  is  con- 
sequently always  right  from  the  point  of  view  of  its 
Kind,  for  it  is  from  this  point  of  view  that  the  Infinite 
causes  it  to  think.  Man,  by  the  use  of  his  Reason, 
must  find  his  own  Rightness ;  i.  e.,  must  find  a  point 
of  view  from  which  he  must  think,  act  All  penalties 


138  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE; 

for  his  failure  to  find  the  Best  point  of  view — that 
point  of  view  nearest  to  the  Rightness  at  which  he  is 
intended  to  arrive — are  of  his  own  infliction.  True, 
he  is  so  constituted  that  he  must  penalize  himself  for 
his  mistakes,  but  this  is  necessary  in  order  to  keep 
him  from  repeating  them.  Experience  in  this  way 
teaches  him,  each  time  he  uses  his  Reason  and  makes 
a  decision,  to  get  a  little  nearer  Rightness.  If  his 
Reason  does  not  do  this,  experience  on  this  plane  is  a 
failure  as  far  as  he  is  concerned  and  he  will  have  to 
wait  until  his  environment  is  improved  before  he  can 
expect  the  progress  that  he  should  make  Here  and 
Now.  Looking  about  us  we  can  see  but  few  human 
specimens  who  can  rightly  be  branded  as  failures 
Here  and  Now,  and  we  can  find  their  counterparts  in 
Unreasoning  Nature.  As  we  attribute  these  latter 
failures  to  wrong  breeding  or  bad  environment,  or 
both,  so  we  must  attribute  similar  failures  in  Reason- 
ing Life  to  the  same  causes,  as  both  are  developed  by 
the  same  processes. 

The  Infinite  Expression  we  have  accepted  as  a  law 
is  that  which  keeps  our  Expression  right  after  it  is 
started.  This  keeping  of  a  thing  "right"  after  it  is 
made,  means  only  the  keeping  it  right  after  its 
Kind.  The  elemental  atom — no  matter  how  far  back 
we  have  to  go  for  it — is  indestructible.  The  Infinite 
law  makes  it  non-interchangeable;  i.  e.,  each  Thing 


MAN'S  SELF-EQUIPMENT  139 

must  develop  as  the  thing  it  was  Expressed  to  be.  As 
we  have  seen,  Infinity  is  simplicity  itself,  beginning 
everything  in  its  simplest  form,  supplying  it  with  the 
Urge  to  Rightness,  and  leaving  it  to  its  own  develop- 
ment, a  development  which  it  accomplishes  by  part- 
nerships and  combinations,  often  with  millions  of 
other  atoms,  each  partnership  or  combination,  how- 
ever, impelled  by  the  Infinite  Urge,  attending  to  and 
perfecting  its  own  organization.  Its  law  that  the 
Consciousness  or  Subconsciousness  of  each  thing  must 
be  inviolable — absolutely  free  from  the  intrusion  of 
any  other  Consciousness  or  Subconsciousness,  even 
from  Infinity  itself — is  a  law  which  on  examination  is 
seen  to  be  a  marvel  of  simplicity.  As  we  have  already 
noted,  Living,  Being,  is  but  a  series  of  changes  in  the 
state  of  mind  of  each  Thing  that  is.  To  preserve 
harmony,  each  change  of  the  state  of  mind  of  every 
Thing  is  censored  by  the  Infinite  before  it  is  allowed 
to  take  place.  As  there  are  countless  billions,  and 
billions,  and  billions  of  Things,  each  changing  its 
state  of  mind  every  second,  the  task  of  censoring  such 
changes  would  be  too  much  for  even  Infinity  itself  if 
it  were  not  for  the  law  providing  that  each  Thing 
shall  start  Right  and  stay  Right.  As  we  are  aware, 
nobody  can  do  two  things  at  once  any  more  than  you 
can  turn  a  grindstone  two  ways  at  once;  such  a  pro- 
cess involves  a  contradiction  of  terms.  The  Infinite, 


140  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

as  well  as  the  finite,  is  incapable  of  doing  that  which 
is  a  contradiction  of  terms.  If  the  Infinite  were  to 
censor  the  moral  right  or  wrong  of  doing  things  It 
could  attend  to  one  thing,  that  is  to  one  Conscious- 
ness, but  no  more,  for  adjusting  the  Tightness  and 
wrongness  of  things  as  we  understand  these  terms 
would  mean  a  perpetual  sitting  in  judgment  upon 
that  which  is  only  relative  and  not  positive.  But  It 
does  not  do  this.  Every  Thing  is  started  right,  after 
its  Kind,  and  by  the  same  creative  fiat  is  compelled  to 
stay  right  after  its  Kind,  and  there  is  nothing  for  the 
Infinite  to  do  but  automatically  to  inhibit  every  change 
of  mind  which  would  result  in  any  change  of  Kind, 
i.  e.,  the  change  of  one  Consciousness  into  another. 
This  reduces  the  administrative  task  of  the  Infinite  to 
the  minimum — the  doing  of  one  thing,  or  rather  the 
prevention  of  one  thing.  Man  can  and  does  under- 
stand this  law,  and  does  not  attempt  to  change  his 
Consciousness  into  some  other  Consciousness,  for  he 
knows  it  would  be  Impossible. 

The  Expression  of  the  Infinite  law — the  Infinite  Urge 
to  Rightness — works  constantly  and  evenly  in  every 
Thing.  Note  that  it  works  In  every  Thing.  The 
Infinite  Life,  the  Infinite  Urge,  is  In  every  Thing,  and 
from  Within  that  Thing,  as  a  part  of  the  Conscious- 
ness or  Subconsciousness  of  that  Thing,  urges  it  to 
Rightness.  It  does  not  urge  it  from  WITHOUT; 


MAN'S  SE)LF-EQUIPM£NT  141 

that  would  ibe  coercing  the  Consciousness,  the 
stronger  pressing  upon  the  weaker.  It  urges  it  from 
WITHIN  as  a  part  of  the  Consciousness,  and  thus 
achieves  the  perfect  democracy  in  control  of  all 
Things  by  the  consent  and  co-operation  of  the  Things. 
It  works  in  Man  the  same  way,  but  he  alone  can 
resist  the  Urge.  He  is  a  Consciousness,  and  as  such 
cannot  be  interfered  with.  Reason  is  his  Conscious- 
ness. It  is  Reason  which  differentiates  him  from 
other  animals ;  it  is  what  causes  him  to  be  a  Man.  It 
is  by  Reason  that  he  is  to  find  out  Rightness — the 
point  of  view  from  which  he  is  to  Think,  Act.  The 
Urge  within  him  constantly  suggests  Rightness  but 
does  not  compel  it.  In  the  tree  the  Urge  suggests 
Rightness  but  does  not  compel  it;  it  does  not  have 
to ;  the  tree  instantly  accepts  the  suggestion,  from  the 
time  when  it  was  a  seed  until  it  reaches  its  perfection 
of  development.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  Man  does  not 
generally  know  of  nor  recognize  this  Urge.  His 
failure  to  know  and  understand  it  in  his  present  stage 
of  development  is  largely  owing  to  his  education. 
Infinity,  however,  knows  that  Man  cannot  and  will  not 
continue  to  ignore  or  misunderstand  this  greatest 
Force  within  his  Being.  Man  penalizes  himself  for 
his  mistakes,  but  this  is  unavoidable  as  long  as  he 
makes  mistakes.  If  Infinity  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  make  mistakes,  nothing  would  be  left  to  be 


142  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

done  by  his  Reason  and  he  would  cease  to  be  a  man. 
Would  it  not,  then,  seem  that  the  most  important  task 
of  the  human  race  is  to  develop  its  Reason  to  a 
RIGHTNESS  OF  ITS  OWN  FINDING?  For  this 
is  what  it  must  do,  either  Here  and  Now,  or  There 
and  Then. 

Now  let  us  glance  at  the  mistaken  education  re- 
ferred to  as  causing  Man  to  misunderstand  himself 
to  the  extent  of  ignoring  or  misconstruing  the  Infi- 
nite Urge  to  Rightness  within  his  Consciousness. 

Education  is  esteemed  the  shortest  road  to  Experi- 
ence. By  school  education  we  expect  to  arrive  at  a 
knowledge  of  the  experience  acquired  by  our  teachers 
and  the  writers  of  the  text-books  we  use.  The  gradu- 
ate of  a  university  too  often  regards  himself  as 
possessed  of  all  the  knowledge  there  is,  excepting,  of 
course,  that  possessed  by  specialists.  Specialists,  after 
they  have  graduated  from  a  school  teaching  that  which 
they  have  selected  as  their  specialty,  are  too  often 
satisfied  with  their  knowledge  of  the  subjects  they 
have  undertaken  to  master.  With  this  Egoism  we 
cannot  well  quarrel,  as  it  is  the  Egoism  of  all  Nature, 
each  Consciousness  being  the  center  of  Life  to  itself. 
It  is  when  this  Egoism  becomes  Egotism,  which  is 
ordinarily  understood  as  a  man's  belief  that  he  is  better 
equipped  than  anyone  of  his  kind,  that  we  find  it  dis- 


MAN'S  SELF-EQUIPMENT  143 

agreeable.  The  egotist  who  "knows  it  all"  quits  rea- 
soning, and  practically  his  education  is  at  a  standstill 
until  by  some  rude  bump  he  is  awakened  to  the  fact 
that  he  does  not  know  it  all.  With  the  egoist  it  is 
different.  He  simply  reasons  that  he  knows  as  much 
as  his  kind  needs  to  know,  and  as  he  finds  he  needs  to 
know  more,  is  prepared  to  learn  more.  He  is  in  a 
receptive  state  of  mind,  and  it  does  not  take  him  long 
to  become  convinced  that  there  is  much  that  he  needs 
to  learn.  He  falls  ill  and  sends  for  a  physician — not 
to  teach  him  how  to  get  well  and  stay  well,  but  merely 
to  help  him  get  well.  He  has  always  been  taught  that 
if  a  man  is  seriously  sick  he  is  helpless  without  a 
doctor  or  a  healer  of  some  sort,  that  all  he  can  do  is 
to  take  his  medicine  or  treatments  without  question 
and  hope  for  the  best.  He  may  know  what  caused 
his  sickness  or  he  may  not.  His  doctor  may  know  and 
he  may  not.  Neither  of  them  may  know  anything 
about  the  laws  of  causation  any  further  back  than 
overeating,  overexertion,  or  exposure  to  the  weather 
or  contagion.  The  doctor  is  too  busy  or  the  patient 
too  sick  to  go  any  further  back  than  the  conditions 
named.  The  patient  may  get  well  or  may  die.  In 
either  case  the  sickness  becomes  a  closed  incident,  ex- 
cept in  those  cases  where  it  is  likely  to  recur  under 
similar  circumstances.  Perhaps  the  patient  in  the 
weakness  of  his  sickness  feels  a  conviction  of  sin  and 


144  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

He  or  his  friends  send  for  a  priest  or  a  clergyman, 
believing  that  a  sense  of  sinfulness  is  best  treated  in 
that  way.  In  both  cases  the  cure  hoped  for  is  by 
Proxy.  If  the  patient  gets  well  the  sense  of  sinfulness 
disappears,  and  that  also  becomes  a  closed  incident. 

When  the  Devil  was  sick,  the  Devil  a  monk  would  be; 
When  the  Devil  got  well,  the  devil  a  monk  was  he. 

Again,  the  sick  man  may  send  for  a  lawyer  to  make 
his  will,  bequeathing  a  large  share  of  his  estate  to 
the  Church  or  to  charity.  This  is  esteemed  a  wise 
procedure  by  a  very  sick  man  with  a  "conviction  of 
sin/'  as  providing  a  certain  insurance  against  fire  in  a 
"future  state."  If  he  dies,  no  one  knows  whether  his 
insurance  policy  answers  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
designed,  but  if  he  gets  well  his  rule  is  to  destroy  the 
will  at  once,  all  immediate  danger  of  fire  being  past. 

You  may  say,  "Well,  what  is  wrong  about  this?" 
It  is  not  a  question  of  the  Tightness  or  wrongness  of 
employing  specialists  in  emergencies,  but  of  the  edu- 
cation which  causes  the  emergencies.  This  work  is  by 
no  means  a  crusade  against  Orthodoxy.  Orthodoxy 
is  an  organized  expression  of  those  connected  with  a 
thing,  as  to  the  Tightness  of  conducting  that  thing.  Or- 
thodox medical  practitioners  are  those  who  conduct 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  the  way  approved  by  the 
majority  of  their  class.  This  is  the  result  of  the 
Urge  to  Rightness  which  impels  us  all  to  a  greater  or 


MAN'S  SELF-EQUIPMENT  1 45 

less  extent.  The  orthodox  lawyer  is  the  one  who  ob- 
serves the  "ethics  of  his  profession."  This,  too,  is  the 
result  of  the  Urge  to  Rightness.  Orthodox  religion 
is  somewhat  harder  to  define,  but  it  may  be  said  to  be 
the  observance  of  the  religious  forms  considered 
necessary  to  the  salvation  of  a  man's  soul — whatever 
that  may  mean — by  each  religious  sect.  In  this  way 
you  may  be  an  Orthodox  Quaker,  Methodist,  Roman 
Catholic,  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  Judaist,  Episcopalian, 
Mohammedan,  Confucian,  Buddhist,  or  any  other  kind 
of  Pagan  that  you  see  fit  to  be.  Or,  as  is  set  forth 
in  a  verse  popular  during  the  vogue  of  Pinafore: 

He  might  have  been  a  Quaker, 
A  Methodist  or  Shaker, 

Or  perhaps  believed  in  hell; 
But  in   spite  of  all   temptation 
To  secure  his  soul's  salvation, 

He  remains  an  Infidel. 

Each  expression  of  religious  Orthodoxy  is  a  mani- 
festation of  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness  and  of  the 
law  of  Attraction,  tending  to  the  cohesion  of  things 
alike  in  their  method  of  thinking — in  these  cases  it 
cannot  be  said  to  be  a  likeness  of  reasoning,  for 
Orthodox  Religionists  are  proud  in  their  denial  that 
Reason  has  anything  to  do  with  their  Faith.  Of 
course  this  is  impossible,  as  Faith  is  but  Reason  satis- 
fied and  shaped  by  the  Intangible,  i.  e.,  by  something 
which  comes  to  the  reasoner  by  other  avenue  or  ave- 
nues than  his  Experience  and  Senses.  As  Religion  is 


j  46  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

an  Expression  of  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness,  and 
as  this  Urge  is  the  same  in  all  instances,  in  all  Nature, 
the  differences  in  its  Expression  can  only  be  accounted 
for  by  the  extent  to  which  Reason  shapes  its  manifes- 
tations. In  the  absence  of  Reason  all  Unreasoning 
Nature  does  the  right  thing  according  to  the  law  of 
its  species,  and  in  the  absence  of  Reason  Man  would 
do  the  same  thing ;  but  such  a  condition  is  impossible, 
as  in  the  absence  of  Reason  Man  would  not  be 
Man,  but  an  automaton  in  Rightness,  as  is  the  tree. 
Thus  we  can  only  account  for  the  widely  divergent 
"faiths"  of  the  numerous  religious  sects  by  accepting 
the  fact  that  "faiths"  vary  as  the  reasonings — uncon- 
scious perhaps — of  the  adherents  of  the  various 
"faiths,"  vary.  In  one  thing  alone  do  they  all  ap- 
pear to  agree — that  Man  is  of  himself  unable  to 
secure  His  Own  Salvation.  This  is  the  doctrine  of 
HELPLESSNESS.  It  is  against  this  doctrine  that 
The  Thinking  Universe  necessarily  directs  its  crusade. 
The  prayers  of  all  religious  suppliants  alike  are 
directed  to  some  outside  personage — a  personage 
whom  they  do  not  and  dare  not  try  to  understand, 
but  a  Something  or  Somebody  whom  they  are  all 
taught  to  Fear.  Thus  we  are  brought  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  all  Orthodoxies  teach  the  doctrines  of  un- 
reasoning Helplessness  and  Fear;  that  the  Infinite 
will  hurt  us  if  we  do  not  "watch  out" — probably  if 


MAN'S  SELF-EQUIPMENT  147 

we  do  "watch  out" — and  that  we  are  helpless  to  pre- 
vent this,  though  there  is  an  alluring  chance  that  by 
supplications,  offerings — burnt  and  otherwise — and 
following  certain  lines  of  conduct,  we  may  escape  with 
a  thorough  singeing  instead  of  eternal  roasting.  Noth- 
ing could  be  further  from  the  truth  as  we  have  found 
it  in  our  examinations  of  Infinite  laws  and  their 
workings  in  all  Nature.  The  acceptance  of  such  doc- 
trines, more  than  anything  else,  has  prevented  Man 
from  realizing  and  utilizing  the  INFINITE  URGE 
TO  RIGHTNESS  WITHIN  HIMSELF.  Mark 
that  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness  comes  from  the 
Infinite  Life  WITHIN  Man,  not  from  outside  of  him. 
If  it  worked  from  outside  of  his  Consciousness  it 
would  be  coercion,  the  stronger  pressing  upon  the 
weaker,  thus  robbing  him  of  his  Free  Will.  The 
Infinite  knows  no  coercion,  and  one  of  its  elemental 
laws  is  the  non-interference  with  any  Consciousness 
except  at  its  own  request.  As  we  have  seen,  Man  and 
every  other  Thing  is  filled  to  his  or  its  fulness  by 
Omnipresent  Infinite  Life,  which  works  IN  Man  as  a 
part  of  his  Consciousness.  According  to  Infinite  law, 
as  we  have  seen  it,  this  is  the  only  possible  connection 
there  can  be  between  Man  and  Infinity ;  i.  e.,  Man's 
connection  with  the  Infinite  within  himself.  Then 
Man  can  only  appeal  successfully  to  the  Infinite  with- 
in himself,  and  if  he  appreciates  this  and  only  knows 


148  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

how  to  make  the  appeal  he  can  have  "whatsoever  he 
(consciously)  wills."  This  implies  Man's  possession 
within  himself  of  a  full  equipment  for  every  emerg- 
ency. What  we  are  seeking  is  an  understanding  of 
how  to  use  this  equipment.  To  succeed  in  this  search 
we  must  at  once  and  for  ever  disassociate  ourselves 
from  the  doctrines  of  Helplessness  and  Fear.  This  is 
the  destructive  part  of  our  work.  Now  let  us  turn  to 
the  constructive  part. 

Where  do  you  "go"  when  you  "go"  to  sleep? 
Where  do  you  "go"  when  you  "go"  crazy?  Where 
does  the  light  "go"  when  it  "goes"  out?  Where  does 
the  sound  "go"  when  it  "dies  away"?  Where  does 
the  darkness  "go"  when  it  "disappears"  ?  Where  does 
power  "go"  when  it  ceases  to  impel  an  object  which 
is  turned  back  or  propelled  in  a  different  direction? 
Into  the  Infinite.  Into  Stillness.  Into  Equilibrium. 
Where  is  this  Infinite,  Stillness,  Equilibrium?  Every- 
where. It  is  Omnipresent,  Unexpressed  Life.  "But," 
you  say,  "  'going'  implies  a  change  from  one  place  to 
another."  Not  necessarily.  It  more  frequently  means 
"going"  from  one  state  of  mind  into  another.  This 
does  not  involve  a  change  of  location,  but  of  condi- 
tion. When  we  go  to  sleep  we  simply  change  our 
state  of  mind.  We  merge  our  reasoning  Conscious- 
ness into  our  Supraconsciousness — the  Infinite  Life 
within  us.  We  have  seen  that  Living  is  merely  a 


MAN'S  SSLF-EQUIPMENT  149 


continuous  changing  of  states  of  mind.  When  we  go 
to  sleep,  then,  we  go  into  a  sleeping  state  of  mind  ; 
i.  e.,  our  Reasoning  Consciousness  merges  into  our 
Supraconsciousness.  Where  else  could  it  go?  We  do 
not  need  a  Reasoning  Consciousness  while  it  is  in 
Supraconsciousness,  as  our  Reasoning  Consciousness 
is  that  by  which  we  find  Rightness,  and  when  this 
is  merged  in  Rightness  itself,  the  Infinite  Life  within 
ourselves,  its  office  is  suspended  until  something 
awakes  us  and  it  resumes  its  domination  of  our  Being. 
While  merged  in  the  Supraconsciousness  —  Infinite 
Life,  Supreme  Stillness,  Absolute  Repose  —  it  Rests. 
Upon  the  complete  temporary  merging  of  these  two 
Consciousnesses  depends  the  amount  of  rest  we  obtain 
in  sleep.  You  do  not  need  to  be  a  physician  to  know 
that  there  is  nothing  more  curative  than  a  sound, 
dreamless,  perfect  sleep.  This  is  a  complete  merging. 
If  you  go  to  sleep  full  of  wine,  rich  food,  or  fever, 
your  merging  machinery  is  clogged  and  you  sleep  too 
near  your  Subconsciousness  to  obtain  rest,  and  your 
dreams  are  filled  with  all  sorts  of  disturbing  things. 
This,  however,  will  be  dealt  with  later.  When  a  man 
"goes"  crazy  his  Reasoning  Consciousness,  finding  the 
physical  machinery  with  which  it  manifests  itself  in 
Time  and  Space,  Here  and  Now,  out  of  order,  "goes" 
into  the  Infinite  Stillness  and  abides  there  until  the 
physical  machinery  is  restored  to  proper  working 


150  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

order.  Thus  when  a  man  is  said  to  "lose -his  reason" 
he  does  not  lose  it  at  all ;  it  merely  merges  into  his 
Supraconsciousness,  into  Repose,  into  the  only  safe 
place  it  could  be,  Rightness,  and  there  awaits  the  re- 
storation of  the  physical  machinery  by  which  it  ex- 
presses itself  Here  and  Now. 

Where  does  the  light  "go"  when  it  "goes"  out,  the 
sound  when  it  "dies  away,"  the  darkness  when  it  "dis- 
appears," but  into  Infinity?  That  which  causes  illu- 
mination, when  its  supply  of  material  for  combustion  is 
exhausted  Rests,  ceases  to  be  active,  becomes  Still.  It 
changes  its  State  of  Mind.  Between  one  state  of 
mind  and  another  state  of  mind  there  can  be  nothing 
but  the  Infinite,  and  into  this  everything  goes,  and 
when  in  It  rests,  if  it  be  only  for  an  instant  of  time, 
and  not  an  interval  of  time,  as  in  sleep.  So  the  state 
of  mind  expressing  sound  changes  into  a  state  of  Still- 
ness, and  the  state  of  mind  expressed  by  darkness 
fades  away  in  the  presence  of  a  state  of  mind  express- 
ing Illumination.  Action  involves  exhaustion,  com- 
parative or  complete.  Expressed  Life,  being  always 
in  motion,  would  exhaust  itself  were  it  not  continually 
going  into  Stillness  and  finding  rest.  This  is  obvious, 
and  it  is  thus  seen  that  every  change  of  mind  not  only 
includes  the  possibility  of  the  censorship  by  the  Infinite 
of  that  change  of  mind,  but  also  includes  a  rest  before 
Power  starts  in  the  new  direction  involved  by  a  change 


MAN'S  SELF-EQUIPMENT  151 

of  state  of  mind.  How  wondrously  simple,  how  abso- 
lutely perfect  is  the  law  of  the  Infinite  as  seen  in  this 
light !  Could  there  be  a  nobler,  grander,  more  sub- 
lime conception  of  "GOD"— the  INFINITE— than  of 
THAT  into  which  all  tired  Nature  pours  itself  for 
rest  ?  The  call  of  the  Infinite  to  every .  Thing  is, 
"Come  unto  me  ye  that  are  weary  and  heavy-laden 
and  I  will  give  you  rest."  O  thou  human  Thing,  thou 
weak  and  weary  one,  thou  sick  and  suffering  one, 
harken  to  this  call,  as  does  all  Unreasoning  Nature, 
and  thou  shalt  find  Peace. 

Man,  when  he  is  tired,  seeks  repose — Stillness  of 
Body,  Quietness  as  to  reasoning  what  he  will  do  next. 
He  does  not  always  seek  sleep  when  weary;  some- 
times bodily  repose  is  sufficient.  But  a  mere  cessation 
of  bodily  activity  does  not  always  bring  repose ;  the 
Reason  must  cease  its  activity  before  he  can  obtain 
rest.  When  we  cease  to  reason,  and  drop  into  the 
Subconscious,  our  Being  is  conducted  on  the  basis  of 
Habit  Life;  we  become  mere  resting  animals.  If  we 
go  into  the  Supraconsciousness  for  repose  we  are  at 
the  fountain  in  which  all  rest  is  found — the  Infinite. 
Our  bodies  rest,  our  Consciousnesses  rest :  this  is 
what  is  meant  by  going  into  Stillness.  In  the  Still- 
ness, our  bodies  relaxed,  our  reasoning  faculties 
merged  into  the  Supraconscious — the  Infinite — that 
thought  which  we  took  with  us  into  Stillness  becomes 


152  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

the  Urge  of  our  whole  Being,  which  proceeds  to  ad- 
just itself  to  the  making  of  that  thought  a  Thing.  If 
our  thought  in  going  into  that  Stillness  was  Rest,  then 
our  whole  Being  proceeds  to  make  that  thought  a 
Thing,  and  that  thing  Rest,  and  we  become  rested. 
With  other  things  it  is  the  same.  If  we  go  into  Still- 
ness with  the  thought  of  Bodily  Wholeness  we  find  it, 
though  perhaps  not  as  readily  as  we  find  rest.  Recov- 
ery from  sickness  is  a  slower  process  than  rest  from 
weariness.  To  obtain  recovery  we  may  have  to  go  into 
Stillness  very  often  before  harmony  can  be  induced  in 
our  whole  Being.  As  has  already  been  shown,  the 
Subconsciousness,  the  Habit  Life,  in  the  case  of  sick- 
ness has,  owing  to  some  cause,  established  an  abnor- 
mal standard  of  Rightness,  from  which  it  must  be 
separated  and  brought  to  the  standard  of  Rightness 
provided  by  our  Reason  before  our  Being  can  become 
harmonious — well.  Of  one  thing,  however,  we  may  be 
sure :  the  instant  we  make  a  call  upon  the  Infinite 
with  our  Reason,  made  Positive  in  its  Rightness — i.  e,. 
with  the  Reason  fully  convinced  that  its  call  will  be 
answered — the  Urge  of  the  Infinite  causes  that  thing 
for  which  we  ask  to  move  towards  our  realization. 

It  may  be  as  well  to  anticipate  a  question  that  may 
arise  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  as  to  why  we  should 
have  to  "go"  into  the  Infinite  for  rest  or  what  we 
desire,  as  we  are  always  in  the  Infinite,  it  being  Omni- 


MAN'S  SELF-EQUIPMENT  153 

present — Everywhere.  True,  we  are  always  in  the  Infi- 
nite, but  we  are  not  always  CONSCIOUSLY  in  the 
Infinite.  The  Infinite  never  changes;  its  Urge  to 
Rightness  is  always  working  within  us.  To  be  bene- 
fited by  the  Urge  we  must  "go"  into  a  receptive  state 
of  mind,  i.  e.,  become  Conscious  that  we  are  awaiting 
the  Urge,  and  that  while  we  are  awaiting  the  Urge  we 
are  holding  the  thought  of  that  which  we  desire.  If 
we  do  not  "go"  into  this  receptive  state  of  mind  we 
are  not  opening  our  Consciousness  to  admit  the  Urge 
and  we  do  not  receive  the  benefit  it  would  otherwise 
confer. 


CHAPTER  XL 

LOOKING  AGAIN  AT  WHAT  WE  HAVE  SEEN — A  REVIEW 
OF  OUR  REASONINGS. 

The  ground  over  which  we  have  come  in  our  rea- 
sonings, at  the  outset  was  familiar  to  none  of  us, 
while  it  was  absolutely  new  and  unexplored  territory 
to  the  great  majority.  The  task  of  studying  the  Infi- 
nite may  have  been  appalling  to  some,  to  none  could 
it  have  appeared  easy;  to  those  who  have  followed 
these  reasonings  thus  far  it  cannot  seem  to  be  by  any 
means  impossible.  Difficulties  have  not  developed,  but 
faded  away,  and  the  wondrous  simplicity  of  the  ways 
of  the  Infinite  has  startled  us  lest  the  ease  with  which 
we  comprehend  them  may  only  indicate  that  we  are 
on  the  wrong  track.  Lest  this  be  the  case,  let  us 
pause  for  a  moment  while  we  look  about  us  and  make 
new  observations  that  we  may  be  reassured  as  to  the 
Tightness  of  our  course.  We  find  ourselves  accepting 
Infinite  Life  and  Infinite  Mind  as  synonymous,  ante- 
rior to  which  nothing  was  nor  could  have  been.  We 
find  it  to  be  an  eternal,  indivisible  Unit,  Omnipresent, 
Omnipotent,  Omniscient,  which  was  Alone  when  it 
first  Expressed  itself,  and  as  Infinite  Life  is  still 


A  REVIEW  OF  OUR  REASONINGS  1 55 

Alone.  Its  first  Expression  we  have  found  to  be  the 
polarization  of  itself ;  i.  e.,  the  causing  of  its  Negative 
characteristics,  as  such,  to  have  a  relation  to  its  Posi- 
tivity — its  equilibrium,  its  poise,  its  Unalterable  Still- 
ness. This  was  the  advent  of  motion,  and  all  Ex- 
pressed Life  became  then,  and  still  is,  Motion.  By  the 
adjustment  of  the  velocity  of  this  motion  to  the  pur- 
poses to  be  served,  various  Constrictions  or  Conscious- 
nesses were  formed  in  Expressed  Life — in  Motion 
Life — and  these,  being  the  fiat  of  the  Infinite,  became 
eternal,  unchangeable,  as  their  Expressor  is  eternal  and 
unchangeable.  These  elemental  Consciousnesses,  or 
elemental  Atoms,  indestructible,  indivisible  at  their 
nearest  approach  to  the  point  at  which  they  became 
Things,  have  by  various  combinations  and  partner- 
ships formed  themselves  into  the  multifarious  Expres- 
sions of  Life  we  see  about  us.  These  partnerships 
and  combinations,  whether  simple  or  complex,  we 
recognize  as  ephemeral,  i.  e.,  liable  to  a  change  of 
form  or  to  disappear  altogether  from  our  observation 
in  order  that  the  atoms  composing  them  may  form 
new  combinations  and  partnerships  of  superior  useful- 
ness or  beauty.  We  find  that  all  the  organizations  of 
the  atoms  in  Expressed  Life  are  left  in  their  progress 
to  perfection  entirely  to  their  own  devices,  except  that 
the  Infinite  Urge  within  them  all  impels  them  mightily 
to  the  achievement  of  the  supreme  excellence  of  their 


156  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

Kind.  We  never  find  the  supreme  Urge  of  the  Infi- 
nite coercing  a  Consciousness,  but  always  working 
within  it  and  as  a  part  of  it  towards  the  greatest  per- 
fection achievable.  For  these  reasons  we  have  con- 
cluded that  the  Infinite  works  on  the  basis  of  one  law 
only,  which  involves  the  starting  of  every  Thing  Right 
and  the  keeping  of  every  Thing  Right  by  protecting 
it  from  coercion  or  intrusion  by  another  Conscious- 
ness or  Subconsciousness,  or  by  Infinity  itself.  The 
Universal  Urge  to  Rightness  of  every  Consciousness 
or  Subconsciousness  is  the  only  way  the  Infinite  affects 
all  Things.  This  causes  the  making  of  every  possible 
partnership  and  combination  of  atoms  necessary  to 
the  production  of  variety  and  perfection. 

By  this  law  alone  Infinity,  as  Infinity,  appears  to 
work.  In  the  terms  of  Time  and  Space,  not  tech- 
nically applicable  to  the  Infinite,  we  may  subdivide 
this  law  into  (1)  The  Law  of  what  Was,  (2)  The 
Law  of  what  Is,  and  (3)  The  Law  of  what  Is  to  Be. 
Other  laws  expressing  the  relation  of  Infinite  to  Ex- 
pressed Life  we  have  not  found  traceable  in  Nature 
or  deduceable  by  reasoning,  and  therefore  have  con- 
cluded that  these  stand  as  Elemental  and  Alone.  From 
the  standpoint  of  the  Infinite  these  three  laws  are  but 
one  law — the  Law  of  Rightness.  For  the  time  being 
we  will  consider  them  from  the  viewpoint  of  Here 
and  Now  in  order  the  better  to  comprehend  the  Infi- 


A  REVIEW  OF  OUR  REASONINGS  157 

nite  law  which  their  workings  express,  and  because 
this  arrangement  harmonizes  so  completely  with  the 
three  laws  of  the  Human  Consciousness,  viz.,  (1) 
What  Has  Been,  (2)  What  Is,  and  (3)  What  Is  To 
Be. 

The  two  classes  of  Expressed  Life — Reasoning  and 
Unreasoning  Life — are  alike  controlled  by  these  laws 
only.  The  only  difference  in  the  control  is  that  the 
Infinite  Urge  acts  in  Unreasoning  Life  from  an  es- 
tablished, a  set,  Point  of  Rightness  in  every  Con- 
sciousness. From  this  "set"  point  every  unreasoning 
Consciousness  automatically  works  Rightness  toward 
the  perfection  of  its  Kind.  In  Reasoning  Life,  Rea- 
son is  left  to  find  its  own  Point  of  Rightness,  the  Infi- 
nite Urge  always  impelling  it  and,  when  requested, 
guiding  in  the  search  for  it.  Because  of  this  obvious 
arrangement  we  have  concluded  that  the  Infinite, 
which  cannot  be  set  at  naught,  will  ultimately  cause 
Reasoning  Life  to  arrive  at  a  Rightness  of  Its  Own 
Finding.  As  Man  is  the  only  Reasoning  Being  we 
have  concluded  that  Reason  is  an  elemental,  inde- 
structible Consciousness,  and  the  Supraconsciousness 
(the  Infinite  within  the  Ego)  and  the  Subconscious- 
ness  (the  expressional  power  of  the  Ego)  are  not 
ephemeral,  and  the  Ego,  made  up  of  these  three,  will 
have  all  eternity  in  which  to  arrive  at  Rightness  of  Its 
Own  Finding.  It  has  also  been  assumed  that  Man 


158  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

being,  as  far  as  is  known,  the  supreme  Expression  of 
Infinity  because  of  his  possession  of  Reason,  Reason 
is  therefore  the  superlative  Expression  of  Infinity,  and 
is  next  to  Infinity  itself.  Because  of  this  obvious 
deduction  we  have  been  encouraged  to  employ  our 
Reason  in  seeking  out  the  purposes  and  methods  of 
Infinity.  At  the  outset  we  found  our  only  equipment 
for  seeking  out  these  purposes  and  methods  to  be 
Reason,  and  by  many  it  may  have  been  feared  to  have 
been  insufficient.  In  employing  it,  however,  we  have 
found  that  the  quality  of  the  human  mind  is  the  same 
as  that  of  the  Infinite  mind  except  that  it  is  con- 
stricted by  its  Consciousness — Reason.  As  our  rea- 
soning powers  have  expanded  we  have  found  our- 
selves approaching  with  startling  nearness  to  the  Infi- 
nite mind,  which  works  in  every  way  as  our  minds 
will  work  when  our  Consciousnesses — Reason — have 
arrived  at  the  Rightness  of  Their  Own  Finding,  which 
is  the  task  set  for  them.  We  have  also  seen  how 
Theologians,  by  ignoring  the  all-important  part  Rea- 
son has  in  shaping  Faith,  and  how  scientists,  who 
have  ignored  the  Infinite  and  its  Urge  as  an  equation 
in  their  calculations,  have  both  contributed  to  the 
hiding  of  THE  LIGHT  from  Man.  No  better  illus- 
tration has  been  found  of  the  ignoring  of  the  Infinite 
in  the  equations  of  the  scientists  than  the  declaration 
of  Physics  that  "all  life  is  motion."  All  Expressed 


A  REVIEW  OF  OUR  REASONINGS  159 

Life  is  motion,  but  Infinite  Life  is  Stillness,  Equilib- 
rium, Repose.  In  the  first  place,  Infinite  Life,  filling 
everything,  has  nowhere  to  move.  Expressed  Life 
has  a  "where"  to  move.  Motion  implies  the  going  of 
something  from  a  given  point  towards  some  other 
given  point.  No  matter  how  great  the  velocity  of  this 
motion  there  must  be  an  instant  of  time  between  its 
departure  and  arrival.  When  we  introduce  the  in- 
stant of  time  we  at  once  inhibit  the  idea  of  Infinity, 
which  knows  neither  Time  nor  Space.  If  the  velocity 
of  the  motion  were  so  great  that  its  departure  from  a 
given  point  and  its  arrival  at  a  given  point,  or  its 
return  in  a  circle  to  the  point  of  starting,  had  no 
separating  instant  of  time,  there  could  have  been  no 
departure  and  there  could  have  been  no  arrival,  and 
there  could  have  been  no  motion.  This  is  the  condi- 
tion of  Infinite  Life,  for,  being  everywhere,  that  which 
starts  from  itself  would  always  be  within  itself  and 
would  always  be  everywhere  at  the  same  instant. 
This  makes  motion  unnecessary  to  Infinite  Life,  and 
to  our  reasoning  impossible.  It  may  be  true  that 
physicists  have  recognized  the  quality  of  Stillness  as 
being  inherent  in  Motion.  If  so,  they  have  the  cart 
before  the  horse,  as  Motion  is  inherent  in  Stillness, 
all  Motion  emanating  from  the  latter.  Thus  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  scientists,  by  refusing  to  admit  the  Infi- 
nite in  their  equations,  have  been  unable  to  arrive  at 


160  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

absolute  Rightness.  Theologians,  on  the  other  hand, 
by  denying  the  superlative  place  that  Reason  occupies 
in  Expressed  Life,  have  been  found  pottering  over 
the  sayings  of  men  who  lived  in  ages  much  less  en- 
lightened than  the  present,  and  giving  to  them  abso- 
lute finality  as  revelations  of  "God's  will  to  Man." 
In  this  way  Theologians  have  assumed  to  be  the 
proper  interpreters  of  God's  laws  as  found  in  the 
Sacred  Writings.  If  by  "God's  laws"  is  meant  the 
laws  of  the  Infinite,  we  have  found  that  the  Infinite 
has  nothing  to  do  with  moral  or  so-called  religious 
laws  except  in  its  urging  of  Reason  towards  a  Right- 
ness  of  Its  Own  Finding;  that  while  it  censors  every 
change  of  one  state  of  mind  to  another  state  of  mind 
it  allows  the  human  mind  to  change  from  a  state  of 
honesty  into  one  of  dishonesty,  from  a  state  of  kind- 
ness into  a  murderous  state;  that  it  passes  as  readily 
a  change  of  mind  involving  a  departure  from  Right- 
ness  as  it  does  one  going  towards  Rightness.  This 
leaves  so-called  Divine  laws  as  simply  the  expression 
by  Reason  of  the  Urge  to  Rightness,  which  men  have 
felt  at  various  times  and  with  varying  degrees  of 
clarity.  When  Theologians  allow  Reason  its  super- 
lative place  in  Expressed  Life  they  will  have  arrived 
much  nearer  Rightness  than  they  are  now,  and  we 
will  hear  no  more  of  the  inconceivable  barbarities  of 
torture  to  be  inflicted  as  the  penalty  of  the  Infinite 


A  REVIEW  01?  OUR  REASONINGS  161 

upon  those  who  displease  "Him"  or  have  omitted  to 
take  advantage,  either  personally  or  by  proxy,  of  the 
cruelly  grotesque  and  unnatural  expiation  of  their 
"sins"  by  His  Son  on  the  Cross. 

At  the  outset,  in  order  that  the  reader  might  not 
be  turned  from  the  subject  by  too  much  abstract  rea- 
soning, it  was  thought  well  to  assume  as  true  such 
generally  accepted  principles  as  the  indivisible  unity 
of  Infinite  Life,  its  Omnipotence,  Omnipresence,  and 
Omniscience,  but  now  we  might  as  well  satisfy  our- 
selves by  examining  the  ground  on  which  this  general 
acceptance  has  been  based.  The  beginning  of  every- 
thing must  be  a  unit,  and  we  have  taken  Life  as  the 
Elemental  Unit  of  the  Universe  because  anything 
prior  to  Life  is  inconceivable ;  it  would  require  to  be 
something  without  life.  A  condition  of  "deadness" — 
in  itself  impossible — could  not  be  conceived  unless 
there  had  been  a  prior  condition  of  life ;  and  again  it 
would  be  inconceivable  to  think  of  a  "dead"  thing 
projecting  Infinite  Life — the  less  cannot  produce  the 
greater.  We  have  accepted  Infinite  Life  and  Infinite 
Mind  as  synonymous.  If  Life,  as  the  Elemental  Unit 
of  the  Universe,  had  been  devoid  of  Intelligence. 
Mind,  it  could  not  have  produced  Mind.  As  that 
which  is  without  thought  cannot  think,  Life  could 
not  think  Mind.  On  the  other  hand,  Mind,  Infinite 
Life,  could  not  have  existed  prior  to  Life,  and  there- 


162  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

fore  could  not  think  Life.  For  these  reasons  it  is 
obvious  that  Life  and  Mind  are  different  names  for 
the  same  thing.  The  Unit  of  the  Universe,  therefore, 
is  Life,  Mind.  It  was  the  Universe  and  is  still  the 
Universe,  nothing-  co-existing  with  it  when  it  was  the 
Unit,  and  nothing  having  been  brought  into  it  from 
elsewhere,  as  there  is  no  elsewhere,  and  there  could 
have  been  no  things.  Therefore  all  Things  are  the 
Expressions  of  Mind,  or  produced  by  Mind  of  Mind, 
and  are  still  Mind,  and  have  the  faculty  of  Mind,  that 
of  Thinking.  Again  let  us  recall  the  fact  that  Think- 
ing and  Reasoning  are  entirely  different  processes — 
that  the  whole  Universe  thinks,  but  Man  alone  rea- 
sons. Everything  thinks  with  its  whole  Being;  Man 
reasons  with  his  intellectual  faculties  and  thinks  with 
his  whole  normal  Being.  It  is  obvious,  then,  that  Life 
is  Omnipresent,  being  Everywhere,  Everything.  Be- 
ing Everywhere  and  Everything,  and  the  Expressor 
of  all  that  has  been  Expressed,  it  must  know  every- 
thing— this  is  Omniscience.  Being  everywhere  and 
knowing  everything,  it  must  have  all  power.  We 
judge  it  as  we  judge  of  a  man's  power  by  his  favor- 
able situation  and  his  possessions,  including  knowl- 
edge. So  it  seems  obvious  to  us  that  Life,  possessing 
everything,  knowing  everything,  being  everywhere, 
must  be  Omnipotent. 


A  REVIEW  OF  OUR  REASONINGS  163 

Having  fortified  ourselves  by  this  review  of  what 
we  have  gone  over,  in  which  we  have  found  no  cause 
to  question  the  Tightness  of  our  conclusions,  let  us 
return  with  freshened  zeal  to  a  consideration  of 
Man's  relation  to  the  Infinite  within  himself,  for  that 
is  the  only  relation  he  can  have  to  the  Infinite,  as  we 
have  seen  that  the  Infinite,  by  its  own  elemental  fiat, 
makes  it  impossible  for  itself  to  work  with  or  upon 
any  Consciousness  except  from  within  and  as  a  part 
of  that  Consciousness. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

INFINITE  LAW  UNBREAKABLE — A  MAN  CANNOT  CON- 
SCIOUSLY ACT  UNLESS  AT  THE  MOMENT  OF  AC- 
TION HE  DECIDES  HE  is  RIGHT. 

It  is  most  important  at  this  stage  of  our  study  that 
we  should  settle  as  a  finality  that  the  Infinite  works 
only  from  within  us  in  its  operations  concerning  us. 
Its  gentle  Urge,  always  impelling  us  to  Rightness, 
works  within  us  as  it  works  in  all  unreasoning  things. 
There  are  no  exceptions  of  Kind,  or  Time,  or  Place. 
Let  us  use  as  an  illustration  of  this  a  case  selected 
from  one  of  the  lower  animals.  Not  infrequently 
sows  devour  their  young,  sometimes  eating  a  whole 
litter  before  their  offspring  can  be  removed  from  their 
reach.  This  seems  to  be  a  case  where  all  the  laws  of 
Nature  are  disregarded,  yet  the  Infinite  Life  which 
censors  every  change  of  state  of  mind  in  every  variety 
of  Expressed  Life  does  not  inhibit  the  change  of  a 
maternal  instinct  into  a  state  of  ravenous  appetite  as 
it  would  have  to  do  if,  from  within  the  animal's  Con- 
sciousness, it  prevented  her  destruction  of  her  pro- 
geny. To  prevent  it  from  without,  the  Infinite  would 
have  to  spirit  away  the  young  pigs  or  muzzle  the 


INFINITE  LAW  UNBREAKABLE  165 

mother.  Neither  operation  takes  place,  unless  the 
swine-breeder  attends  to  that  which  can  be  done  out- 
side of  the  animal's  Consciousness.  Yet  the  law  of 
Urge  to  Rightness  is  seen  to  work  perfectly.  If  the 
sow  is  not  interfered  with  she  extinguishes  her  pro- 
geny and  there  is  no  danger  of  her  abnormal  appetite 
being  transmitted  to  her  Kind.  This  is  the  working 
of  the  law  from  within,  and  it  is  seen  to  cover  the 
case  without  any  interference.  No  manifestation  of 
power  from  without  could  have  anything  approaching 
the  finality  of  extinguishing  the  swinish  lust  which 
otherwise  might  be  transmitted.  We  cannot  imagine 
in  this  revolting  incident  any  "miraculous"  removal 
of  the  progeny  or  the  muzzling  of  the  unnatural 
mother.  The  Universe  is  organized  on  a  different 
plan,  and,  as  we  have  before  noticed,  the  Infinite  itself 
could  not  attend  to  an  administration  of  its  laws  in- 
volving any  such  "miracles"  as  have  been  suggested, 
as  the  Infinite,  like  the  finite  Mind,  can  attend  to  only 
one  thing  at  a  time,  and  while  protecting  the  sow's 
litter  with  a  "miracle"  would  have  to  neglect  the  rest 
of  the  Universe. 

Let  us  take  another  example  of  the  operations  of 
law  from  Within  and  Without.  You  are  living  in  a 
rented  house  that  is  so  badly  in  need  of  repair  that 
you  refuse  to  pay  your  month's  rent  until  a  better- 
ment is  made.  Your  landlord  by  process  of  law 


166  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

seizes  your  household  goods  and  thus  forces  you  to 
pay.  While  resenting  the  injustice,  you  settle  the 
debt.  This  is  the  application  of  force.  The  body  you 
occupy  at  present  is  out  of  repair  and  you  refuse  to 
pay  the  tribute  of  praise  and  gratitude  to  God  for  an 
unhealthy  body,  which  your  religious  education  has 
taught  you  is  His  due.  This  mental  attitude,  you 
have  been  taught,  is  liable  to  cause  the  seizure  of  your 
body  by  a  still  worse  sickness.  If  it  is  the  Infinite 
Law  that  you  be  so  punished  you  cannot  hope  to 
escape,  for  Infinite  Law  cannot  be  evaded  and  works 
with  absolute  and  invariable  certainty  in  every  case. 
If  you  pause  for  a  moment,  you  will  remember  that 
in  dozens,  perhaps  hundreds  of  instances  you  have 
felt,  and  probably  expressed,  "ingratitude"  of  this 
sort,  and  yet  you  have  not  been  "seized"  by  a  worse 
sickness.  Then  the  "Law"  has  failed  to  work  in  your 
case  and  has  demonstrated  that  it  is  not  a  law  at  all. 
When  your  body  is  feeling  perfectly  well  after  an 
attack  of  sickness  you  are  disposed  to  feel  grateful 
and  to  give  thanks  for  your  health,  and  you  feel  better 
and  stronger  that  you  have  done  this.  This  is  the 
Law  working  from  within.  Your  "ingratitude"  was 
caused  by  your  Reason  refusing  to  act  when  called 
upon  to  give  thanks  for  something  undesirable.  Your 
"gratitude"  was  caused  by  the  Urge  to  Rightness 
moving  your  Reason  to  give  thanks  for  something 


INFINITE  LAW  UNBREAKABLE  167 

deserving  thanks.  This  latter  state  of  mind  benefited 
you,  as  you  are  always  benefited  by  obeying  the  Urge 
to  Rightness  within  you.  The  "ingratitude"  may 
have  injured  you  and  made  you  feel  worse,  because 
you  resented  what  you  thought  was  the  uncalled-for 
action  of  the  Infinite  in  making  you  ill,  and  an  un- 
reasonable state  of  mind  is  always  detrimental  to 
health.  The  Infinite  had  nothing  to  do  with  your 
sickness.  Consciously  or  Subconsciously  you  were 
entirely  to  blame,  and  furthermore,  you  are  always  to 
blame  when  your  Reason  does  not  work  for  Right- 
ness.  It  is  an  axiom  of  common  law  that  "ignorance" 
of  the  law  furnishes  no  excuse.  When  we  arrive  at 
the  point  of  appreciating  our  responsibility  we  will 
lose  no  opportunity  of  learning  the  Law  of  our  Being 
in  order  that  we  may  obey  it.  It  would  be  easy  to 
pile  up  evidence  that  Infinite  Law  does  not  inflict 
penalties  from  outside  of  the  Human  Consciousness. 
From  childhood  we  have  heard  of  "Ananias  and 
Sapphira  his  wife,"  who  fell  dead  because  they  lied. 
Doubtless  we  have  all  been  taught  alike  that  this  was 
the  penalty  inflicted  by  the  Infinite  for  telling  delib- 
erate untruths.  Doubtless  we  have  all  alike,  though 
in  a  vague  and  general  way,  decided  that  there  was 
nothing  in  it,  for  we  all  know  how  prevalent  lying  is 
and  always  has  been,  and  have  never  heard  of  an 
authenticated  case  of  a  similar  punishment  being  in- 


168  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

flicted  on  the  liar.  If  every  person  who  told  a  lie 
dropped  dead,  the  population  of  the  earth  would  be 
thinned  down  in  an  hour  as  the  most  devastating 
plague  has  never  yet  reduced  it  in  years  of  a  preva- 
lent and  deadly  scourge.  We  know,  too,  that  death  is 
an  unreasonable  penalty  for  such  an  offence  as  telling 
an  untruth — fortunately  for  the  majority  of  people  it 
is  not  even  a  jailable  offence  in  the  eyes  of  those  who 
make  our  criminal  laws.  The  punishment  for  lying 
comes  from  within  our  Consciousness,  and  we  feel 
ashamed  and  cheap  in  the  quiet  moments  when  mem- 
ory recalls  some  deliberate  untruth  of  which  we  have 
been  guilty  and  Reason  turns  it  over  and  over  again 
in  its  mental  stomach,  and  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Right- 
ness  causes  us  to  promise  ourselves  not  to  repeat  the 
performance.  Somehow  we  know  we  did  not  break 
an  Infinite  law,  yet  we  do  not  know  how  we  know  it, 
for  we  have  all  been  very  nebulous  in  our  ideas  of 
Infinite  Law.  We  know  we  were  not  struck  dead  for 
doing  it,  and  probably  that  is  the  basis  of  our  dis- 
belief in  the  existence  of  an  Infinite  law  against  lying. 
At  this  point  we  may  as  well  recognize  the  fact  that 
AN  INFINITE  LAW  CANNOT  BE  BROKEN. 

We  have  seen  that  Infinite  Life  censors  every 
change  of  one  state  of  mind  into  another  state  of 
mind,  and  of  course  can  prevent  any  action — every 
action  is  the  result  of  the  changing  of  one  state  of 


INFINITE  LAW  UNBREAKABLE  169 

mind  into  another  state  of  mind — transgressing  its 
law.  If  Infinity  had  seen  fit  to  enact  so-called  moral 
or  religious  laws  they  would  have  been  of  the  un- 
changing, universal  Rightness  of  Infinity  itself,  and  It 
would  have  seen  to  their  enforcement ;  breaking  such 
laws  would  be  impossible,  and  this  would  have  robbed 
Man  of  his  "Free  Will,"  of  the  opportunity  of  exer- 
cising his  Reason,  and  he  would  have  ceased  to  be  a 
man,  or  rather  he  never  would  have  been  a  man;  he 
would  be  a  righteous  automaton,  in  no  sense  more 
responsible  or  uplifted  than  the  highest  type  of  ani- 
mal or  tree.  It  may  occur  to  you  that  the  Infinite 
Urge  to  Rightness,  being  an  Infinite  law,  cannot, 
therefore,  be  resisted.  "How  then,"  you  may  ask,  "do 
you  account  for  the  ignoring  or  resisting  by  the 
Human  Consciousness  of  this  Infinite  Urge,  as  it  must 
ignore  or  resist  it  when  it  does  a  wrong  thing?"  The 
Infinite  Urge  cannot  be  ignored  or  resisted  in  what  it 
sets  out  to  do,  but  we  must  be  very  careful  properly 
to  understand  the  office  of  the  Infinite  Urge.  It  has 
already  been  shown  that  the  Urge  bears  alike  upon 
all  Expressed  Life;  that  it  COERCES  No  Thing, 
CO-OPERATES  with  Every  Thing.  The  Urge  is 
to  the  Rightness  of  each  Thing — towards  the  perfec- 
tion of  each  Thing  according  to  its  Kind.  Mark  this : 
The  Urge  is  that  which  moves  each  Thing  in  an  up- 
lift towards  becoming  the  best  Thing  of  its  Kind  of 


170  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

Thing.  This  Urge  is  No  Where  and  In  No  Thing 
resisted  or  ignored.  Right  and  Wrong,  as  we  ordi- 
narily use  the  words,  do  not  apply  to  the  Rightness 
which  has  to  do  only  with  the  greatest  achievement 
possible  of  a  Thing  as  its  KIND  of  Thing.  Right- 
ness  here  is  Positive,  not  Relative,  and  has  nothing  to 
do  with  Morals  or  Religion.  Morals  have  to  do  with 
the  relation  between  members  of  the  human  species ; 
the  word  Religion  is  used  to  express  the  relation  be- 
tween Man  and  his  Maker.  Infinity  does  not  inter- 
fere in  these  relations.  If  the  Urge  forced  men  to  be 
right  in  these  respects  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  that 
they  would  cease  to  be  men  and  become  automatons. 
As  will  shortly  be  shown,  these  relations  depend  en- 
tirely upon  human  Reason.  The  Urge  to  Rightness 
as  it  affects  Man  bears  upon  his  perfection  as  an  ani- 
mal and  upon  his  perfection  as  a  REASONING 
BEING.  The  relation  of  the  Urge  to  Man  as  an 
animal  is  identical  with  its  relation  to  every  other  Con- 
sciousness. Its  relation  to  Man  as  a  REASONING 
BEING  is  that  of  a  power  which  prevents  him  con- 
sciously doing  anything  that  at  the  moment  of  action 
his  Reason  decides  is  not  right  for  HIM  to  do.  This 
brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  IT  IS  AS 
IMPOSSIBLE  FOR  MAN  CONSCIOUSLY  TO 
DO  ANYTHING  WHICH  AT  THE  MOMENT 
OF  ACTION  HIS  REASON  DECIDES  IS  NOT 


INFINITE  LAW  UNBREAKABLE  171 

RIGHT  FOR  HIM  TO  DO,  AS  IT  IS  FOR  HIM 
TO  CHANGE  FROM  BEING  A  MAN  INTO  A 
MONKEY  OR  A  TREE.  We  now  see  still  more 
vividly  the  supreme  place  Reason  occupies  in  Ex- 
pressed Life.  Infinity  does  not  coerce  the  Human 
Consciousness  into  any  set  line  of  Rightness — that 
would  rob  a  man  of  his  Free  Will,  individuality,  of 
his  status  as  a  man,  and  make  him  automatic  in  the 
set  line  of  Rightness  provided  by  the  Infinite.  What 
the  Infinite  does  force  the  Human  Consciousness — 
REASON — to  do,  is  to  make  a  decision  before  it  can 
Consciously  act,  and  that  decision  must  be  in  accord- 
ance with  what  the  Consciousness — REASON — at 
the  moment  of  action  declares  to  be  RIGHT.  Note 
the  difference  between  "Consciously"  acting  and 
"Subconsciously"  acting.  Our  Subconscious,  our 
Habit  Life,  which  is  in  charge  of  the  things  we  do 
repetitionally,  such  as  breathing,  digesting,  the  circu- 
lation of  our  blood,  the  action  of  our  muscles  and 
nerves,  in  fact  of  all  those  things  we  call  our  auto- 
matic processes,  does  its  work  without  reference  to 
our  reasoning  Consciousnesses,  and  the  reasoning  Con- 
sciousness does  not  interfere  with  these  processes 
when  they  are  carried  on  with  the  perfection  char- 
acteristic of  a  Subconsciousness  in  a  normal,  that  is  to 
say  a  healthy,  condition.  Those  changes  in  our  states 
of  mind  which  call  upon  Reason  for  a  decision  as  to 


172  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

what  our  state  of  mind  shall  be  at  the  moment  of 
action,  are  what  we  call  Conscious  changes.  These 
Conscious  changes  are  what  we  call  decisions  as  to 
what  is  Right  and  what  is  Wrong  for  US ;  i.  e.,  what 
is  the  best  thing  for  US  to  do.  Thus  we  are  forced 
to  exercise  our  Reason  in  what  it  declares  at  the  mo- 
ment of  action  to  be  Right,  before  we  Consciously 
act.  This,  then,  makes  Reason  the  censor  of  every 
Conscious  action.  In  this  regard  it  occupies  the  same 
place  in  the  Ego  that  Infinite  Life  occupies  in  every 
change  of  one  state  of  mind  into  another  state  of 
mind  in  the  processes  of  every  Thing  in  Expressed 
Life.  Thus  Reason,  if  it  refuses  to  sanction  any 
Conscious  action,  inhibits  that  action. 

This  forcing  of  Reason  to  censor  all  the  Conscious 
actions  of  the  Ego  is  obviously  for  the  purpose  of 
forcing  Man  so  continually  to  exercise  his  Reason  as 
ultimately  to  enable  him  by  experience  to  arrive  at  a 
RIGHTNES'S  OF  HIS  OWN  FINDING.  We  have 
long  known  that  we  must  come  to  a  decision,  i.  e., 
our  Reason  must  settle  upon  the  course  to  be  pur- 
sued, before  it  releases  its  "clutch" — the  Will — and 
permits  the  mechanism  of  our  Being  Consciously  to 
act.  The  view  that  the  Reason  at  the  moment  of 
.action  must  consider  itself  RIGHT  has  not  hitherto 
been  distinctly  stated.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  been 
generally  held  that  we  are  capable  of  deliberately 


INFINITE  LAW  UNBREAKABLE  173 

doing  a  "Wrong"  thing,  knowing  and  deciding  it  to 
be  wrong  for  US  to  do  at  the  moment  of  action. 
Note  carefully  the  "for  US"  to  do,  for  we  often  do 
things  which  at  the  moment  of  action  we  decide  are 
right  for  US  to  do,  while  at  the  same  time  holding  a 
very  decided  opinion  that  the  same  act  done  TO  US 
would  be  unqualifiedly  Wrong.  It  is  in  this  way  that 
the  Egoism  of  every  Expression  of  Life  declares  it- 
self. As  has  been  previously  stated,  this  Egoism, 
when  manifested  by  the  Infinite,  is  the  Law  of  Right- 
ness  itself — the  one  Law  of  the  Infinite.  Each  Ex- 
pression of  Life,  each  Thing,  represents  the  Infinite 
and  to  itself  IS  the  Infinite,  and  assumes  the  Egoism, 
the  Rightness  of  the  Infinite.  In  Unreasoning  Nature 
this  is  justifiable,  insomuch  as  each  Thing  acts  with 
the  automatic  Rightness  set  for  it  by  the  Infinite.  In 
Reasoning  Nature  the  Infinite  has  obviously  declared 
that  each  Consciousness  shall  act,  and  act  ONLY 
from  a  Rightness  set  by  that  Consciousness  at  the 
moment  of  action.  This  of  course  is  justifiable  from 
the  Infinite  point  of  view,  insomuch  as  everything 
must  be  done  in  accordance  with  the  Urge  to  Right- 
ness,  each  Thing  after  the  RIGHTNESS  OF  ITS 
KIND.  The  RIGHTNESS  OF  ITS  KIND  of  the 
Human  Consciousness  is  obviously  that  which  it  fixes 
as  such  at  the  moment  of  Conscious  action.  In  this 
way  the  Infinite  Law  is  obeyed,  both  as  to  Rightness 


174  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

and  as  to  the  preservation  of  Man's  Individuality— 
his  Free  Will.  That  Man  always  justifies  the  choice 
given  him  of  finding  His  Own  Rightness  is  not  so 
apparent,  but  on  examination  it  is  seen  that  he  would 
otherwise  have  no  opportunity  of  gaining  the  experi- 
ence necessary  to  arrive  at  a  perfect  Rightness  of  His 
Own  Finding — a  destiny  which  at  every  turn  of  these 
studies  becomes  more  obviously  the  condition  for 
which  he  is  being  prepared. 

Now  let  us  examine  the  grounds  upon  which  we 
have  based  the  assumption  that  at  the  moment  of 
acting  the  Reason  must  decide  that  it — the  Conscious- 
ness— is  doing  the  right  thing  for  IT  to  do,  before 
the  act  can  be  performed.  As  before  stated,  we  have 
all  known,  though  perhaps  not  appreciated,  the  fact 
that  the  Reason  must  decide  as  to  what  is  to  be  done 
before  it  releases  its  "clutch" — the  Will — and  our 
Being  is  permitted  to  think,  i.  e.,  act.  It  is  our  Rea- 
son that  decides  that  we  will  walk  before  we  Think 
walking,  i.  e.,  act  walking — walk.  We  do  not  think 
that  we  will  rise  up  from  our  chair  until  our  Reason 
has  decided  that  the  RIGHT  thing  at  that  moment  is 
to  rise  up.  Then  we  Think  rising  up,  i.  e.,  we  rise  up. 
If  our  Reason  decides  that  it  is  the  wrong  thing  for 
us  to  rise  up,  we  of  course  do  not  think  rising  up,  and 
remain  in  our  seat.  Circumstances  may  be  such  that 
at  one  moment  we  decide  to  rise  up,  but  before  our 


INFINITE  LAW  UNBREAKABLE  1  75 

state  of  mind  has  changed  into  a  "rising  up  state  of 
mind"  our  Reason  decides  that  we  will  not  rise  up. 
At  one  moment  our  Reason  may  favor  one  course  of 
procedure,  while  at  the  next  moment  it  decides  on 
the  opposite  course,  and  a  moment  after  returns  to  its 
original  impulse,  and  at  the  next  moment  changes 
again.  This  is  what  we  call  the  working  of  our  spirit- 
ual digestive  apparatus,  the  weighing  of  the  "pros" 
and  "cons,"  the  considering  of  the  arguments  for  and 
against  any  proposed  action.  When  Reason  finally 
decides  that  a  certain  course  of  procedure  is  the 
right  one,  then  we  think,  act,  follow  that  course  of 
procedure. 

Let  us  take  a  more  serious  example.  A  man's  Rea- 
son is  debating  whether  he  shall  commit  a  theft  or 
leave  the  coveted  object  untouched.  The  Urge  to 
Rightness  within  him  tells  him  that  the  coveted  thing 
is  not  his,  that  he  has  no  right  to  it,  that  he  would 
resent  the  stealing  of  a  thing  from  HIM,  and  he 
decides  that  he  will  not  steal  the  thing.  His  Subcon- 
sciousness,  his  Habit  Life,  tells  him  that  everything  is 
his  that  he  can  "get  away  with,"  that  the  cheats,  the 
impostors,  the  frauds  who  constitute  so  large  a  pro- 
portion of  his  business  acquaintances,  are  all  thieves, 
and  he  might  as  well  be  a  thief  as  any  of  the  rest  of 
them.  He  takes  another  look  at  the  coveted  object 
;  and  decides  he  will  take  it.  As  he  moves  towards  it 


176  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE; 

he  is  stricken  with  fear.  What  will  happen  to  him  if 
he  is  discovered?  He  will  be  sent  to  jail,  disgraced. 
He  decides  not  to  take  it.  Another  look  at  the  coveted 
object  and  he  is  again  filled  with  a  longing  for  its 
possession.  He  argues  that  there  is  no  danger  of  him 
being  discovered.  No  one  is  looking.  No  one  will 
know  he  has  been  there.  Others  will  be  suspected. 
That  he  wants  it  so  badly,  he  argues,  gives  him  a  title 
to  it.  Why  should  HE  not  take  a  thing  which  was 
evidently  designed  to  be  HIS  or  he  would  not  have 
such  a  consuming  desire  for  it?  Everything  good 
was  intended  for  HIM.  He  would  make  a  better  use 
of  it  than  anyone  else.  It  would  not  be  wrong  for 
HIM  to  take  it,  because  it  would  do  HIM  so  much 
good.  At  this  point  he  takes  it,  because  he  has  decided 
that  it  would  not  be  wrong,  but  right,  for  HIM  to 
take  it.  He  did  not  take  it  when  he  thought  of  being 
sent  to  jail,  for  it  would  not  be  nice  for  HIM  to  be  in 
jail ;  that  would  be  wrong  for  HIM. 

Let  us  take  another  case.  A  man  is  contemplating 
suicide.  He  has  been  taught  that  there  is  a  Divine 
law  against  suicide.  He  knows  that  such  an  act  is 
against  the  law  of  the  community.  He  thinks  of  the 
disgrace  it  would  be  to  his  family;  the  family  is  HIS, 
it  would  be  a  disgrace  to  HIM,  and  he  decides  he 
will  not  do  it.  Ill  health,  poverty,  suffering,  are  all 
threatening  him.  He  cannot  stand  it.  No  other  man 


LAW  UNBREAKABLE:  1  77 

has  been  in  such  a  terrible  condition;  he  has  been 
made  the  victim  of  all  the  darts  of  outrageous  for- 
tune. It  would  be  wrong  for  a  man  to  commit  suicide 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  but  for  HIM,  with 
nothing  but  dire  poverty,  continuous  suffering,  and 
unbroken  loneliness,  he  has  a  RIGHT  to  end  his  life. 
It  is  HIS  life,  he  is  the  center  of  all  Life  to  himself ; 
he  has  a  right  to  do  with  it  as  he  pleases.  It  would 
be  not  only  wrong,  but  foolish,  for  him  to  keep  on 
living.  "Yes,"  he  decides,  "it  is  the  right  thing  for 
me  to  do."  And  he  does  it.  But  not  until  he  has 
decided  that  it  is  the  RIGHT  thing  for  HIM  to  do. 
Lest  he  change  his  mind  and  decide  that  it  would  be 
a  wrong  thing  for  him  to  do,  he  does  it  hurriedly. 
We  cannot  conceive  of  a  man  committing  suicide 
while  he  is  mentally  well  balanced  and  prosperous 
and  well,  for  we  cannot  understand  why  he  would 
think  it  was  right  for  HIM  to  do  it.  Indeed,  if  we 
look  into  it  we  cannot  conceive  of  anyone  consciously 
doing  anything  which  he  at  the  moment  of  action  has 
not  decided  is  the  BEST  thing  for  HIM  to  do,  the 
RIGHT  thing  for  HIM  to  do.  Try  for  a  moment  to 
think  of  a  man  committing  suicide  against  his  will. 
The  suggestion  is  preposterous.  What,  then,  is  his 
Will  but  the  voice,  the  decision  of  his  Reason?  Then 
no  man  can  be  conceived  of  as  committing  suicide 
when  his  Reason  tells  him  it  is  a  wrong  thing  for 


1  78  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

HIM  to  do.  When  Reason  arrives  at  a  decision  it 
arrives  at  a  something  which  it  considers  right  for 
IT  to  do.  If  Reason  has  arrived  at  the  decision  that 
it  is  wrong  for  IT  to  do  the  thing  proposed,  how  is 
the  thing  to  be  done?  The  Will  does  not  start  the 
Thinking — the  Acting — and  as  far  as  acting  is  con- 
cerned the  Being  remains  in  a  state  of  passivity.  The 
man  who  commits  suicide  does  not  require  to  con- 
sider self-destruction  right  as  a  general  principle,  but 
only  right  for  HIM.  As  expressing  universal  Egoism 
it  is  easy  for  HIM  to  make  the  distinction.  It  is  per- 
haps harder  than  any  of  us  who  have  not  been 
tempted  to  self-destruction  can  appreciate,  for  a  man 
with  Reason  unbalanced  by  disease,  misfortune,  and 
black  environment,  not  to  make  the  distinction.  One 
thing  is  certain,  that  no  one  commits  suicide  until  his 
Reason,  or  what  is  left  him  of  it,  approves  the  act  as 
right  for  HIM. 

Without  seeking  further  illustrations  we  have  a 
right  to  assume  that  there  is  no  crime  so  heinous,  no 
folly  so  flagrant,  that  the  one  guilty  of  it  has  not 
found  an  "excuse" — which  is  but  a  trick  of  Reason — 
for  considering  that  he  or  she  had  a  RIGHT  to  com- 
mit it.  The  guilty  one  might  easily  be  the  first  one  to 
condemn  the  same  act  when  committed  by  another, 
but  this  only  proves  that  what  we  call  right  and  wrong 
are  not  positive,  but  relative  terms,  as  used  in  our 


INFINITE;  LAW  UNBREAKABLE:  1  79 

ordinary  reasoning.  The  old  axiom,  "Circumstances 
alter  cases/'  expresses  this.  We  not  only  know  that 
"there  is  a  right  way  to  do  a  right  thing/'  but  more 
frequently  than  we  may  be  willing  to  admit  we  con- 
sider that  there  is  a  right  way  to  do  a  wrong  thing, 
as  well  as  a  wrong  way  to  do  a  right  thing  and  a 
wrong  way  to  do  a  wrong  thing.  This  phase  of  our 
study  has  shown  us  the  origin  of  that  very  conven- 
ient thing,  an  Excuse.  If  we  analyze  Excuses  we  will 
find  they  are  nothing  but  tricks  by  which  Reason  has 
been  cajoled  into  asserting  as  right  at  the  moment  of 
action,  something  which  it  would  have  rejected  upon 
more  careful  examination.  When  we  hear  that  some 
person  has  committed  some  folly  or  crime  which  was 
"without  excuse/'  we  are  apt  to  consider  that  it  must 
have  been  pretty  bad  that  an  "excuse"  could  not  be 
found  for  it.  Yet  the  one  guilty  of  it  no  doubt  had 
an  excuse,  as  everyone  has  for  whatever  one  does. 
Is  it  not  a  fact  that  looking  back  at  our  own  mistakes, 
or  looking  at  the  mistakes  of  others,  we  decide  them 
to  be  inexcusable?  We  are  almost  certain  to  think 
or  say,  "I  must  have  been  crazy  when  I  did  it,"  or 
"He  must  have  been  crazy  when  he  did  it."  There 
is  more  truth  than  we  suspect  in  such  a  declaration, 
for  we  do  not  commit  follies  or  crimes  in  moments 
of  sound  judgment — i.  e.,  when  Reason  is  working 
Rightness.  Such  things  are  the  outcome  of  weakened 


180  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE: 

Reason,  and  insanity  is  nothing  but  an  impairment  of 
the  machinery  by  which  Reason  expresses  itself. 
This  machinery  can  be  impaired  not  only  by  disease 
or  accident,  but  by  Habit.  We  can  entertain  thoughts 
of  folly  or  crime  until  our  Reason  becomes  so  habit- 
uated to  them,  to  the  weighing  of  them  as  light  and 
trivial,  to  the  playing  with  them  till  they  take  on  an 
Appearance  of  Rightness,  that  at  last  in  a  fool  moment 
it  decides  that  they  are  Right,  the  clutch — the  Will — is 
released,  and  the  folly  or  crime  becomes  an  act.  That 
we  must  reason  at  the  moment  of  conscious  action 
that  the  action  is  right,  by  no  means  relieves  us  of 
our  responsibility;  it  should  and  must  increase  our 
sense  of  responsibility.  How  disgusted  and  sore  we 
feel  the  instant  we  discover  that  we  have  been 
"fooled!"  What  a  contempt  we  have  for  ourselves 
when  we  find  we  have  been  the  victim  of  some  cheap 
fraud  or  smooth-tongued  swindler!  How  we  begin 
to  suspect  that  our  Reason,  proud  as  we  have  been 
of  it,  is  little  better  than  that  of  an  infant  when  we 
find  we  have  made  a  disastrous  and — what  should 
have  been  obvious  to  us  at  the  moment  of  action — a 
fool  investment.  Yet  these  things  teach  us  commer- 
cial wisdom  and  we  learn  to  avoid  hasty  decisions 
where  things  of  monetary  value  are  involved.  How 
else  can  we  learn  to  become  Right  in  our  decisions 
when  purely  moral  questions  are  involved?  Surely 


INFINITE:  LAW  UNBREAKABLE  181 

if  we  teach  ourselves,  and  those  whose  education  we 
help  to  direct,  that  the  decisions  we  are  called  upon 
to  make  so  frequently  every  day  Cause  everything 
that  Affects  us  morally  as  well  as  financially  and 
physically,  we  will  learn  to  lead  more  Reasonable 
lives.  Cause  and  Effect  will  be  continually  staring 
us  in  the  face,  and  the  same  sense  of  "cheapness,"  "no- 
goodness,"  will  come  to  us  when  we  make  a  moral  as 
when  we  make  a  financial  mistake.  This  subject  will 
be  taken  up  again,  but  in  the  meantime  we  may  be 
sure  that  if  we  follow  where  Enlightened  Reason 
leads  us  we  can  make  no  mistake. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  LAWS  OF  EXPRESSED  LIFE — THEIR  EVOLUTION 
AND  SCOPE — THE  LAW  OF  MOSES. 

Having  satisfied  ourselves  that  there  is  but  one  In- 
finite Law — Rightness — and  that  it  is  unbreakable 
and  irresistible,  let  us  look  at  the  laws  that  have  been 
evolved  by  the  combinations  and  partnerships  of  Ele- 
mental Atoms — Consciousnesses.  These  combinations 
and  partnerships,  as  we  have  seen,  have  produced 
almost  innumerable  Subconsciousnesses,  and  combina- 
tions of  Subconsciousnesses,  all  of  which  work  to- 
wards the  perfection  of  their  Kind  with  such  unerr- 
ing regularity  and  Rightness  that  we  must  conclude 
that  they  are  governed  by  laws.  In  the  near  cen- 
turies scientists  have  been  able  to  codify  many  of 
these  laws.  Since  Newton's  discovery  of  the  Law  of 
Gravitation  research  has  become  easier,  and  it  may 
be  as  well  to  examine  this  Force  and  its  relations  in 
order  that  we  may  see  that  organic  as  well  as  inor- 
ganic life  is  ruled  by  the  same  impulse.  The  law  of 
Gravitation  is  so  invariable  in  its  operations  that  it 
may  easily  be  mistaken  for  an  Infinite  rather  than  a 
finite  law.  That  it  has  to  do  with  the  assembling  of 


THE:  LAWS  OF  EXPRESSED  LIFE:  183 

atoms  into  a  condition  of  density  makes  it  evident 
that  it  is  not  an  Infinite  law,  as  it  concerns  Things 
only,  and  their  relations  to  each  other  in  Time  ancT 
Space.  Each  atom,  filled  to  its  fulness  with  Infinite 
Life  giving  out  from  its  Stillness  the  impulse  of  Mo- 
tion, moves  as  that  impulse  directs  it  to  move;  this 
impulse  is  the  Infinite  Urge,  the  expression  of  the 
Infinite  Law  of  Rightness,  to  be  manifested  by  the 
Atom,  not  by  IT.  This  is  a  rather  subtle  point,  but 
an  important  one.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  Infinite 
works  from  within  the  Consciousness  and  as  a  part 
of  it,  thus  causing  the  atom  to  move  of  its  own  free 
will,  though  its  conscious  will  is  exactly  that  which  the 
Infinite  determined  it  to  be.  If  it  were  not  so,  and 
Infinite  Life  acted  upon  the  atom  as  a  compelling 
force  from  without,  then  Gravitation  would  become 
an  Infinite  law,  with  a  set  line  of  Rightness  for  all 
Consciousnesses  alike,  thus  depriving  the  Conscious- 
ness of  its  individuality,  a  procedure  contrary  to  the 
Infinite  law  of  Rightness,  as  well  as  depriving  the 
inorganic  Universe  of  variety  as  to  shapes  and  mag- 
nitudes. In  the  working  of  Gravitation  as  a  law  of 
Expressed  rather  than  Unexpressed  Life,  Geology 
shows  that  atoms  congregate  according  to  their  Kind, 
i.  e.,  their  density.  While  atoms  seek  the  center  of 
the  largest  body  of  density  nearest  to  them,  their 
whole  tendency  is  to  assemble  according  to  their 


184  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

Kind.  This  is  in  obedience  to  the  law  of  Attraction 
— the  law  known  in  Reasoning  Life  as  the  Com- 
munity impulse,  the  tendency  to  Colonize.  When 
particles  of  gold  are  found  in  quartz  we  may  be  sure 
that  individually  they  have  been  struggling  to  assem- 
ble themselves ;  when  we  find  them  in  nuggets  we 
may  know  that  a  certain  number  of  them  have  suc- 
ceeded in  this.  Such  forces  as  water,  wind,  heat  and 
electricity  contribute  to  the  assembling  of  atoms  with 
their  Kind.  As  heat,  through  volcanic  eruptions  and 
other  manifestations  of  its  energy,  releases  the  gold 
particles  in  the  quartz  and  frees  other  particles  from 
uncongenial  surroundings,  so  wind  and  water  and 
other  forces  enable  them  to  get  together  in  accord- 
ance with  the  impulse  of  their  Kind.  Thus  we  see 
great  bodies  of  sand  collected  as  deserts,  each  Kind 
of  sand  getting  together  as  a  separate  colony.  Even 
on  the  beaches  of  our  coasts  where  the  water  is  con- 
tinually disturbing  the  sand,  we  find  this  colonizing 
continually  going  on,  and  the  different  kinds  of  sand 
getting  together  either  in  large  bodies  or  layers.  Chalk 
cliffs,  large  deposits  of  clay,  the  strata  of  rocks,  so- 
called  deposits  of  iron,  copper,  etc.,  all  show  the  work- 
ing of  this  law  of  Attraction  and  declare  the  wisdom 
of  the  Infinite  in  Causing  the  law  of  Gravitation  to 
be  modified  by  the  laws  of  Attraction  and  Repulsion, 
i.  e.,  the  expression  of  the  individuality  of  the  atoms, 


THE  LAWS  OF  EXPRESSED  LIFE  185 

of  their  fondness  for  their  Kind.  If  it  were  other- 
wise, we  would  find  all  density  an  aggregation  of 
unassorted  atoms  unable  to  accomplish  the  purposes 
for  which  they  were  designed,  everything  huddling 
to  a  center  regardless  of  individuality. 

In  Reasoning  Life  we  find  the  same  forces  at 
work.  We  speak  of  the  "gravitation"  of  human  be- 
ings to  the  large  centers  of  population.  In  large 
cities  we  find  the  law  of  Attraction  colonizing  people 
of  various  nationalities,  and  so  obvious  is  the  work- 
ing of  this  law  that  in  all  cities  attractive  to  foreign- 
ers we  hear  of  the  Hungarian  section,  the  Polish  sec- 
tion, the  Italian  section,  etc.  We  find  people  segre- 
gating themselves  socially  according  to  their  educa- 
tion and  wealth,  the  habitations  of  the  rich  and  the 
poor  seldom  intermingling.  In  Unreasoning  animal 
life  it  is  the  same.  In  America  the  prairies  were  once 
alive  with  huge  herds  of  buffalo  that  lived  and  moved 
as  communities  under  recognized  leaders.  Droves  of 
wild  horses  raced  across  the  llanos  of  South  America. 
Wolves  traveled  in  packs.  Wild  geese  and  ducks 
migrated  in  huge  flocks.  These  have  disappeared  or 
are  disappearing.  We  still  see  swarms  of  bees,  hills 
of  ants,  clouds  of  locusts,  and  so  many  evidences  of 
community  life  amongst  these  beings  that  we  can 
have  no  further  doubt  of  the  existence  of  the  impulse 
that  brings  them  and  holds  them  together. 


186  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE: 

It  having  been  seen  how  this  central  and  centraliz- 
ing law  of  Gravitation  works  in  every  variety  of  Ex- 
pressed Life,  let  us  glance  at  the  evolution  of  other 
laws  specially  designed  for  the  betterment  of  Reason- 
ing Life — Man.  In  his  Egoism  Man  naturally  re- 
gards all  Physical  laws  as  having  been  designed  for 
his  betterment,  and  takes  no  thought  as  to  whether 
the  fulfillment  of  the  law  of  Attraction  does  or  does 
not  afford  happiness  and  contentment  to  the  Unrea- 
soning atoms.  Having  come  to  the  viewpoint  that 
everything  is  Mind,  and  that  everything  Thinks,  it 
would  not  be  difficult  for  us  to  go  further  and  try  to 
appreciate  a  condition  of  contentment  and  pride  as 
existing  in  Unreasoning  Nature  when  it  has  arrived 
by  combinations,  partnerships  and  colonizations  at 
the  condition  it  esteems  perfection.  It  goes  towards 
this  perfection  from  a  set  Point  of  Rightness,  while 
Man  is  forced  to  find  his  own  Point  of  Rightness, 
but  it  is  not  difficult  to  believe  that  a  similar  enjoy- 
able sense  of  achievement  is  relatively  felt  by  both. 
Leaving  this  point  as  not  strictly  pertinent  to  our 
enquiry,  let  us  glance  at  forces  radiating  from  a  cen- 
ter— that  which  has  been  made  familiar  to  us  by 
scientists  as  Centrifugal.  In  Reasoning  Nature  this 
finds  its  counterpart  in  federations,  first  in  states  and 
nations  combining  for  the  common  good,  but  ruled 
from  a  central  point,  as  the  United  States  is  ruled 


THE  LAWS  OF  EXPRESSED  LIFE  187 

from  Washington,  and  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies 
from  London.  Each  state  or  colony  has  its  own 
center  of  power,  located  in  its  Capital.  Each  city, 
county  and  town  is  a  center  of  municipal  power,  as 
each  collection  of  inorganic  atoms  has  a  center  of 
power.  Each  has  laws  locally  adapted  to  its  necessi- 
ties, carefully  arranged  so  as  not  to  conflict  with 
higher  laws  of  greater  centers. 

Peripheral  forces,  those  throwing  out  atoms  from 
the  circumference  of  a  circle  or  an  ellipse,  find  their 
counterpart  in  Reasoning  Life  as  well  as  Unreasoning 
animal  life,  in  the  outcasts  and  unfortunates  that  in 
the  daily  whirl  of  things  are  ejected  from  ordinary 
community  life,  and  colonize  by  themselves.  These 
are  found  amongst  wild  animals  in  the  derelicts  left 
by  the  herds  and  flocks  and  swarms,  to  perish.  In 
Reasoning  Life  they  are  found  in  hospitals  and  asy- 
lums and  prisons,  where  Reason  attends  to  their  com- 
fort and  betterment  more  successfully  than  could  be 
done  by  ministering  to  them  as  individuals.  In  all 
cases  we  have  seen  that  what  in  science  are  known 
as  Elemental  Laws  have  their  counterparts  in  the 
laws  established  by  Reason,  and  again  must  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  all  Expressed  Life  is  impelled  by 
the  same  Urge  to  Rightness. 

When  we  come  to  the  laws  established  by  Reason- 
ing communities  for  moral  self-control,  we  find  our- 


188  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

selves  in  a  new  field  of  operation,  but  the  same  Prin- 
ciple prevails  according  to  the  nearness  to  which 
that  community  approaches  Rightness.  What  is 
"moral  self-control"  ?  We  know  that  physical  self- 
control  is  the  management  of  the  Body  by  the  Will. 
Perfect  physical  self-control  is  the  full  and  instant 
response  of  the  Body  to  the  call  of  the  Will — the 
voice  of  Reason.  Thus  if  we  have  perfect  control  of 
our  body,  when  we  reason  that  the  Right  thing  for 
us  to  do  is  to  walk,  the  clutch  of  the  Will  is  released 
and  we  walk  perfectly,  as  our  Consciousness  esteems 
perfection  in  walking.  Moral  laws  are  those  which 
express  the  relation  between  man  and  man,  and  moral 
self-control,  then,  must  mean  the  controlling  of  these 
relations  so  as  to  obtain  instant  response  by  the  body 
politic  to  the  call  of  that  which  is  its  center.  To  ob- 
tain instant  compliance  to  the  demands  of  authority, 
penalties  are  provided  for  disobedience.  These  penal- 
ties, great  or  small  as  Reason  judges  the  offense  to 
merit,  from  death  or  life  imprisonment  down  to  a 
few  days  in  jail  or  a  petty  fine,  have  no  counterparts 
in  Infinity  or  the  elemental  laws  of  organic  or  inor- 
ganic life.  They  are  purely  the  outgrowth  of  Reason 
— the  Law  of  Now — and  are  built  up  from  the  Mem- 
ory Life  as  to  what  is  best  fitted  to  compel  obedience. 
It  is  here  we  first  find,  in  all  our  tracings  of  the  Ex- 
pressions of  Life,  obedience  by  compulsion.  In  purely 


THE  LAWS  OF  EXPRESSED  LIFE  189 

animal  life  we  see  the  stronger  animal  take  that  which 
it  desires  from  the  weaker,  but  that  is  the  outgrowth 
of  the  animal  Subconsciousness,  which  considers  as 
its  own  everything  necessary  to  its  betterment,  and 
nothing  is  exacted  as  a  penalty.  In  Infinite  as  well 
as  in  Unreasoning  Expressed  Life  there  is  a  set 
Rightness,  and  the  law  of  this  fixed  Rightness  cannot 
be  broken,  consequently  there  can  be  no  penalties. 
Communities,  we  know,  in  every  instance  desire  their 
laws  to  express  the  combined  Reason  of  the  commun- 
ity, and  the  penalties  for  the  infraction  of  these  laws 
are  invariably  fixed,  and  have  been  from  time  im- 
memorial, by  the  central  power  of  that  community. 
At  one  time  this  central  power  was  vested  in  some 
absolute  ruler,  who  by  the  force  of  circumstances  or 
his  own  intelligence  occupied  for  a  time  the  chief 
place,  made  arbitrary  laws,  and  controlled  the  lives, 
liberties,  and  pursuit  of  happiness  of  his  subjects  as 
he  saw  fit.  These  kings,  or  chiefs,  were  often  blood- 
thirsty tyrants,  though  sometimes  as  wise  and  good 
as  the  Light  of  their  Time  permitted — or,  to  put  it 
more  exactly,  as  the  enlightenment  of  their  subjects 
demanded.  None  of  them  had  any  Light  as  we  can 
find  it  except  through  Reason,  and  as  the  intakes  of 
their  Reason  were  opened  or  closed  to  the  Infinite 
Urge  to  Rightness  were  they  superior  to  or  beneath 
their  surroundings.  As  education  became  more  wide- 


190  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

ly  diffused,  as  the  experience  of  the  past  as  provided 
by  history  became  common,  as  a  knowledge  of  the 
world's  surface  as  presented  by  geography  grew  gen- 
eral, as  the  laws  of  the  so-called  heavenly  bodies  were 
outlined  by  astronomy,  and  secrets  of  the  world's  up- 
building were  revealed  by  geology,  and  other  hidden 
things  were  made  plain  by  kindred  sciences,  the  peo- 
ple became  more  capable  of  self-government,  the  in- 
dividualism of  the  Human  Consciousness  declared  it- 
self, and  Absolutism  faded  away  until  now  no  nation 
is  without  its  parliamentary  government,  no  matter 
what  its  Chief  Executive  may  be  called. 

With  the  increasing  share  that  the  Reason  of  the 
individual  has  obtained  in  governments  of  all  kinds, 
laws  have  been  better  adapted  to  human  necessities, 
and  penalties  better  fitted  to  the  gravity  of  offenses. 
Hangings,  burnings,  and  torturings  for  witchcraft  and 
heresy  have  disappeared ;  minor  offenses  such  as 
sheep-stealing  are  not  punished  with  death ;  imprison- 
ment for  debt  has  been  practically  abolished,  and  slav- 
ery has  become  a  thing  of  the  past.  What  brought 
about  these  changes  except  the  progress  of  Human 
Reason?  Why  have  cruel  penalties  been  abolished 
for  offenses  imaginary  and  real,  except  at  the  call  of 
Reason?  What  Light  has  there  been  to  guide  Man 
except  his  Reason,  illumined,  as  often  it  was  without 
him  understanding  the  means  of  his  illumination,  by 


THE:  LAWS  OF  EXPRESSED  LIFS  191 

the  Infinite  Urge  to  Rightness?  That  the  personal 
and  partial  illumination  of  a  few  individuals  through 
having  found,  more  than  others,  of  the  Infinite  Light, 
has  been  sufficient  to  bring  about  these  world  changes 
except  by  a  slow  and  faulty  dissemination  of  their 
knowledge  to  the  Reason  of  the  masses,  cannot  be 
shown.  The  progress  has  been  educational  and  made 
entirely  through  Reason,  both  as  to  the  expression  of 
such  Light  as  we  have  and  the  use  we  have  made  of 
it.  The  fact  that  the  hanging,  burning,  and  torturing 
of  witches  and  heretics  not  only  survived  in  so-called 
civilized  countries  for  over  three-quarters  of  the  time 
that  has  elapsed  since  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era,  but  were  indeed  inflicted  by  the  self-appointed 
custodians  of  Christian  Truth,  proves  that  until  Rea- 
son abolished  these  things  so-called  Religion  upheld 
them. 

It  is  true  there  has  always  been  a  conflict  between 
Reason  and  Revelation.  Theologians  until  recently 
have  been  unanimous  in  denouncing  the  claim  of 
Reason  to  criticize  what  purports  to  be  Revelation. 
While  doing  this  as  a  class,  each  sect  of  Theologians 
has  been  unsparing  in  its  criticism  of  what  is  esteemed 
to  be  Revelation  by  every  other  sect  of  Theologians. 
Followers  of  Buddha,  Confucius,  Mahomet  and  Christ 
are  each  numbered  by  the  millions,  yet  amongst  the 
last  named  there  are  more,  and  more  radical  differ- 


192  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

ences  of  "Faith"  than  amongst  the  other  three.  The 
Theologians  of  the  first  three  classes  each  claim  a 
superior  Light,  but  do  not  deny  that  the  others  have 
some  Light.  This  denial  is  left  to  the  Christian 
Theologians,  who  claim  that  their  Sacred  Writings 
contain  it  all,  and  that  the  others  are  impositions. 
Yet  they  do  not  agree  amongst  themselves.  What  is 
the  matter?  They  are  simply  mistaken  as  to  the  man- 
ner, matter,  and  extent  of  the  Revelations  in  Sacred 
Writings  of  all  kinds.  Their  differences  can  only  be 
accounted  for  by  the  different  workings  of  the  REA- 
SON which  guided  and  guides  each  one  of  them. 
It  is  their  only  means  of  assimilating  any  knowledge 
which  comes  into  their  Consciousness.  If  they  had 
no  Reason,  there  would  be  no  Revelation,  for  none 
would  be  needed.  Man  would  not  exist,  and  the 
Thing  nearest,  most  resembling  Man,  but  without 
Reason,  would  be  automatically  Right,  having  in 
common  with  all  Unreasoning  Nature  a  Rightness 
ALREADY  FOUND  FOR  HIM.  Then  there  would 
have  been  no  Theology,  no  Theologians,  and  the  world 
would  have  been  at  peace,  but  it  would  have  been 
without  that  complex  creature,  Man,  whose  continual 
struggles  for  a  Rightness  of  His  Own  Finding  have 
so  irritated  the  Doctors  of  Divinity.  But  glory  be ! 
he  will  find  it  in  spite  of  them  or  of  anyone  whose 


THE:  LAWS  OF  EXPRESSED  LIFE  193 

ambition  it  is  to  hold  a  high  place  in  the  zone  outside 
of  Reason. 

The  code  of  laws  with  which  the  majority  of  us 
are  most  familiar  as  being  the  most  ancient  and  rea- 
sonable extant,  is  that  of  Moses,  but  that  he  had  these 
laws  already  graven  on  tables  of  stone  handed  to  him 
by  Infinity  in  the  "midst  of  the  fire,  of  the  cloud,  and 
of  the  thick  darkness"  of  Horeb,  is  an  account  of  their 
origin  which  we  cannot  accept.  The  fact  that  these 
laws  were  so  reasonable,  so  well  adapted  to  the  neces- 
sities of  the  human  race  in  general,  and  appeared  at 
a  time  long  considered  to  be  one  of  ignorance  and 
semi-barbarity,  caused  a  considerable  section  of  man- 
kind for  many  centuries  to  believe  in  the  miraculous 
nature  of  their  origin,  and  the  majority  of  our  moral 
laws  to  this  day  have  them  as  their  basis.  The  re- 
searches of  science  have  not  only  shown  the  impossi- 
bility of  such  a  Personal  God  as  the  one  described 
as  speaking  to  Moses,  but  have  shown  that  a  civiliza- 
tion vastly  superior  to  that  of  the  Hebrews  existed 
long  prior  to  the  placing  of  these  laws  in  the  Ark  of 
the  Covenant.  Moses  himself,  as  described  in  the 
Holy  Writings,  was  reared  and  educated  in  the  royal 
household  of  Egypt,  a  country  in  which  the  arts  and 
sciences  had  made  great  progress,  and  which  had  a  his- 
tory, and  consequently  an  experience,  antedating  that  of 
the  Hebrews  by  many  centuries.  A  wealth  of  tablets 


194  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

and  memorials  has  been  unearthed  not  only  in  Egypt, 
but  taken  from  the  ruins  of  ancient  Babylon  and  other 
Assyrian  cities,  which,  as  they  have  been  deciphered, 
point  very  conclusively  to  the  existence  of  laws,  not 
only  amongst  the  Assyrians,  but  further  back  still 
amongst  the  Chaldeans,  and  in  a  still  more  remote 
period  amongst  the  Shemerians,  similar  and  prior  to 
those  of  Moses  and  containing  accounts  anterior  to 
by  thousands  of  years,  and  somewhat  contradictory 
of,  the  work  of  Moses  as  an  historian.  Evidence  of 
this  sort  has  been  piled  up  into  such  an  irrefutable 
mass  that  all  sincere  students  of  it  have  ceased  to 
regard  Moses  as  the  direct  agent  of  what  they  esteem 
to  be  an  impossible  God.  To  these  students  Moses 
remains  as  a  wonderfully  wise  law-giver,  who,  anx- 
ious to  impress  his  not  too  enlightened  people  with 
the  merit  of  his  laws,  considerably  overstated  the 
share  which  Infinity  had  in  their  making.  This  over- 
statement, no  doubt,  Moses  justified  to  himself  in  the 
intensity  of  the  Egoism  which  the  unusual  gift  of 
Light  seemed  to  warrant.  He  argued,  doubtless,  that 
his  people  would  obey  these  laws  more  implicitly  if 
they  believed  them  to  come  directly  from  the  hand 
of  God ;  it  would  be  for  their  good,  and  consequently 
RIGHT  to  cause  them  to  believe  this.  Like  all  law- 
yers, great  and  small,  have  always  been,  he  was  not 
above  placing  the  law  and  evidence  he  adduced  in  the 


THE:  LAWS  OF  EXPRESSED  LIFE  195 

most  favorable  light.  Whether  these  laws  would 
have  been  more  effectual  if  he  had  founded  them  on 
the  simple  basis  of  Cause  and  Effect,  thus  making 
them  intelligible — reasonable — to  the  ordinary  mind, 
and  thus  inducing  it  to  manage  its  affairs  upon  what 
is  always  to  be  found  to  work  Rightness,  rather  than 
by  obscuring  their  origin  in  a  blaze  of  unnatural 
glory  and  thus  causing  the  reasoning  mind  not  only 
to  doubt  the  origin  of  the  laws  but  sometimes  to  dis- 
pute their  wisdom,  must  remain  a  matter  for  conjec- 
ture. We  know  that  if  we  are  led  to  doubt  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  account  of  anything's  origin  we  almost 
invariably  begin  to  suspect  the  Tightness  of  the  thing 
itself.  Even  with  the  "supernatural"  stimulation  to 
obedience  used  by  Moses,  it  is  evident  that  the  Israel- 
ites must  have  had  seasons  of  doubt  as  to  the  verity 
of  the  story  which  had  been  given  them  with  their 
laws.  These  "seasons  of  doubt"  could  not  have  been 
caused  by  any  imperfections  in  the  laws  themselves, 
but  must  have  resulted  from  the  serious  and  very 
prevalent  disbelief  as  to  whether  the  story  of  their 
origin  told  by  Moses  was  true.  At  any  rate,  the 
Chosen  People  were  given  to  backsliding,  to  the  wor- 
ship of  Baal,  and  to  the  making  of  idols  of  their  own. 
Of  the  last  named,  the  making  of  the  Golden  Calf 
will  be  remembered  as  an  example.  This  breaking  of 
the  first  Commandment  was  so  recurrent  as  to  lead 


196  THE  THINKING 

us  to  conclude  that  it  was  the  one  in  which  they  had 
the  least  confidence — this,  too,  at  the  time  when  the 
evidence  of  its  origin,  if  such  evidence  existed,  was 
freshest  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  Is  it,  then,  any- 
thing but  natural  that  decades  of  centuries  afterwards, 
in  an  age  of  vastly  greater  enlightenment,  these  doubts 
have  grown  to  such  proportions  as  they  have? 

Inherently  these  laws  contain  nothing  which  a  stu- 
dent of  Egyptian  and  Babylonian  history  could  not 
with  enlightened  Reason  have  written.  The  special 
illumination  shown  is  the  glimpse  of  Infinity  as  the 
One  God,  the  One  Good.  Even  with  the  blaze  of 
glory  which  must  have  filled  the  mind  of  Moses  when 
it  fastened  upon  Monotheism,  there  did  not  come  a 
conception  of  the  Infinite  as  a  Principle,  but  he  beheld 
it  as  a  Man  in  a  condition  of  exaggerated  Power  and 
Splendor.  The  Infinite  Urge  within  him,  to  which 
he  was  so  open,  found  the  limitations  of  his  Con- 
sciousness too  great  to  allow  this  high  conception  of 
Deity  as  the  Infinite  Principle.  It  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered that  the  mind  of  Moses  contained  nothing  able 
to  become  Conscious  of  this  Principle.  He  lived  in 
an  era  when  science  had  not  shown  the  universality 
of  law,  had  not  become  awake  to  the  millions  of 
years  since  the  beginning  of  Things,  and  his  perspec- 
tive, limited  to  a  few  centuries,  included  nothing  but 
Palestine  and  the  countries  contiguous  to  it.  When, 


THE;  LAWS  OF  EXPRESSED  LIFE  197 

stealing  into  his  Awareness,  came  the  thought,  "I  am 
the  Lord  thy  God;  thou  shalt  have  no  other  Gods 
before  me/'  had  he  lived  in  the  present  century  it 
would  have  meant,  "I  am  the  Infinite;  I  am  my  own 
Good.  I  can  have  no  other  Good  than  that  which  is 
in  myself."  This  is  the  Monotheism  of  to-day;  of 
Science,  as  it  opens  itself  to  the  Infinite  Urge  to 
Rightness;  of  Theology,  as  it  ceases  to  worship  an 
impossible  Personal  God,  and  recognizes  that  all  the 
Infinity  there  is  or  can  be  for  each  one  of  us  is  that 
which  has  always  been  and  always  will  be  within  us. 
"Thou  Shalt  Have  No  Other  GOD  Before  Thyself," 
gentle  reader.  You  are  incapable  of  it,  or  rather, 
you  are  CAPABLE  without  it.  GOD  is  merely  a 
different  way  of  spelling  GOOD.  We  are  each  one 
of  us  incapable  of  realizing — mark  this  word  realizing 
— anything  more  perfectly  good  than  we  ourselves 
would  be  if  we  were  perfectly  good.  We  know  noth- 
ing, can  know  nothing,  more  accurately  than  we 
know  ourselves.  We  can  imagine  nothing  and  no- 
body more  perfect  than  we  would  be  if  we  were 
perfect.  The  law  of  Egoism  prevents  this.  Each  one 
of  us  is  the  center  of  the  Universe  to  himself  or  her- 
self. It  is  the  Infinite  Egoism  within  us  declaring 
what  we  will  yet  be— PERFECT.  THOU  CANST 
HAVE  NO  OTHER  GOD  BEFORE  THYSELF. 
It  is  because  we  do  not  appreciate  this  that  we  are 


198  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

the  poor  boobs  that  we  are.  It  is  because  we  do  not 
appreciate  this  that  we  are  almost  appalled  at  seeing 
it  in  print  and  somehow  vaguely  believing  it  is  true. 
It  will  be  when  your  Reason  becomes  Positive  in  its 
Rightness  that  it  is  so,  that  you  will  think  with  your 
whole  Being  that  it  is  so,  and  your  every  action  will 
prove  that  it  is  so,  and  you  will  cease  to  follow  after 
the  false  gods  of  Avarice,  Passion,  Folly  and  Lust, 
as  the  Israelites  wandered  from  the  vague  GOOD  of 
Moses  after  Baal  and  the  Golden  Calf.  As  we  are 
told  that  "Enoch  Walked  with  God,"  so  we  will  learn 
to  walk  with  God,  that  is,  with  the  Good  that  is  in 
us.  We  will  hold  its  hand,  accept  its  guidance,  as 
we  cannot  hold  the  hand  or  feel  the  guidance  of  the 
Jehovah  of  Moses. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE;  LAW  OF  CHRIST — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  How  IT 
BECAME  THEOLOGIZED. 

Twenty  centuries  ago  Western  civilization  in  vari- 
ous degrees  of  advancement  had  for  its  center  the 
Mediterranean  Sea  and  the  Orient  was  practically 
unknown  to  it.  As  its  name  suggests,  this  sea  was 
supposed  to  be  in  the  middle  of  the  earth's  surface, 
which  was  then  considered  to  be  flat.  Greece,  Rome, 
and  Egypt  were  the  centers  of  learning,  the  greatest 
university  in  the  world  being  then  at  Alexandria,  and 
to  that  great  Egyptian  port  came  the  scholars  and 
scribes  to  benefit  by  the  manuscripts  which  had  been 
collected  by  the  million  in  the  library  of  the  univer- 
sity. The  Sun  Worship  of  Persia  was  most  popular, 
but  the  Hebrews  were  then,  as  they  had  long  been, 
accredited  with  being  the  most  religious  people,  with 
minds  best  adapted  to  Theological  thought.  A  colony 
said  to  consist  of  over  thirty  thousand  Jews  was  set- 
tled in  Alexandria,  where  some  of  them  preserved  in 
its  purity  the  Judaic  form  of  worship,  while  others 
permitted  themselves  to  be  deeply  affected  by  the 
cosmopolitan  thought  of  that  great  center  of  learning. 


200  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

Students  of  history,  led  by  the  law  of  Cause  and  Ef- 
fect, have  with  one  accord  looked  to  what  at  that 
time  was  the  center  of  Light  for  the  first  Expression 
of  the  CHRIST  PRINCIPLE.  The  Reasoning 
World  had  grown  tired  of  the  foolishness  of  idols 
and  was  not  disposed  to  accept  the  not  too  attractive 
picture  drawn  by  the  Chosen  People,  of  the  God  who 
was  the  God  of  Israel  alone.  Were  it  not  for  the  law 
of  Egoism,  the  workings  of  which  we  have  observed 
to  be  so  powerful,  we  could  not  conceive  of  a  small, 
crudely  developed  and  vanquished  people  still  hugging 
to  themselves  the  belief  that  the  God  of  their  fathers, 
the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  was  the  Omni- 
potent Ruler  of  the  Universe,  but  the  God — the  Good 
— of  Israel  only.  If  we  pause  to  think  a  moment  of 
the  meaning  of  the  Infinite  being  confined  in  His  love 
and  attentions  to  one  beggarly  people  and  caring 
nothing  for  what  became  of  the  rest  of  the  world's 
population,  we  must  be  stunned  by  the  colossal  impu- 
dence of  such  an  assumption.  This  view  of  the  He- 
brew outlook  must  have  dawned  on  the  thoughtful 
men  of  that  race  as  they  mingled  in  Alexandria  with 
students  from  countries  in  many  respects  more  en- 
lightened than  Palestine  dared  claim  to  be.  The 
deeply  devotional  nature  of  the  Jew  could  not,  how- 
ever, be  eradicated  by  the  confusion  which  he  must 
have  felt  in  cosmopolitan  Alexandria  when  he  was 


THE  LAW  OF  CHRIST — ITS  ORIGIN         201 

discovered  to  be  the  possessor  of  a  Faith  so  narrow 
and  hide-bound.  Like  their  fathers,  who  dwelt  in 
sun  and  sand-blackened  tents  and  through  long  peri- 
ods of  fasting  and  prayer  cried,  UO  thou  God  of  my 
fathers,  show  me  the  way/'  these  students,  too, 
reached  out  in  the  darkness  in  search  of  a  Guiding 
Hand.  As  their  fathers  were  answered  by  the  incom- 
ing of  Prophetic  Light  to  the  extent  their  Conscious- 
nesses could  comprehend  it,  so  it  is  not  difficult  to 
believe  these  students,  with  enlarged  capacity  of  com- 
prehension, found  still  greater  Light,  and  upon  some 
One,  or  upon  some  Group,  dawned  the  Christ  Prin- 
ciple— LOVE,  hitherto  unknown  in  Jewish  law.  This 
new  Principle  at  once  obliterated  the  difference  be- 
tween the  Jew  and  the  Gentile  and  made  all  mankind 
the  objects  of  Infinite  attention  and  affection.  That 
this  should  have  dawned  upon  the  seeker  after  Truth 
does  not  seem  to  be  even  strange,  but  it  seems  to  have 
been  abhorrent  to  the  average  Israelite.  In  Egypt 
there  was  a  strong  organization  known  as  the  Thera- 
peutse — the  Healers.  The  adherents  of  this  sect  are 
described  as  garbing  themselves  in  white,  avoiding 
wine  and  meat,  and  living  on  the  plainest  diet,  that 
their  thoughts  and  actions  might  be  pure  and  their 
spiritual  nature  dominant.  This  Order  spread  to  Pal- 
estine, and  amongst  the  Jews  was  known  as  the  Es- 
senes,  the  strictest  sect  of  which  bore  the  name  of 


202  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

Nazarites,  and,  though  they  received  no  mention  in 
the  New  Testament,  the  Essenes  appear  in  Jewish 
history  to  have  been  a  well-known  and  meritorious 
organization.  Josephus,  the  great  Jewish  historian  of 
the  period  in  which  Christ  is  said  to  have  lived,  is 
described  as  choosing  between  the  Pharisees,  Sad- 
ducees  and  Essenes,  becoming  a  disciple  of  the  last 
named  for  several  years,  in  endeavoring  to  live  a  life 
of  purity,  and  though  he  ultimately  became  a  Phari- 
see he  must  have  retained  a  strong  affection  for  the 
Essenes.  Two  startling  facts  become  apparent  when 
we  find  that  Josephus,  though  giving  minute  descrip- 
tions of  the  events  of  that  era,  makes  no  mention 
whatever  of  the  birth,  life  or  death  of  Christ.  It  is 
true  that  a  sentence  merely  naming  Christ  is  to  be 
found  in  some  of  his  works,  but  even  the  Theologians 
with  one  accord  repudiate  it  as  an  interpolation  and 
admit  that  Josephus  either  ignored  or  had  never  heard 
of  Christ.  The  other  fact  is  that  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, much  as  is  said  about  the  Pharisees  and  Sad- 
ducees,  there  is  no  mention  of  the  Essenes,  though 
that  sect  would  naturally  be  the  friends  and  co-work- 
ers of  one  of  Christ's  lofty  nature  and  mission.  What, 
then,  can  the  inference  be  except  that  Christ  as  a  per- 
son did  not  exist,  and  that  the  Essenes,  who  are 
known  to  have  existed,  were,  as  a  few  individuals  or 
as  a  body,  the  local  custodians  of  the  Christ  Principle, 


THK  LAW  OF  CHRIST — ITS  ORIGIN         203 

which  was  so  unpopular  amongst  the  Jews  that  Jo- 
sephus  did  not  mention  it,  while  the  writers  of  the 
New  Testament  narrative  avoided  the  mention  of  the 
Essenes  lest  that  Order  might  be  called  upon  to  prove 
or  disprove  the  existence  of  the  historic  Christ  at  a 
time  when  such  a  thing  might  have  been  possible? 
These  are  not  the  only  facts  that  lead  to  a  disbelief 
in  the  historic  Christ.  Unlike  Moses,  who  had  the 
tables  of  stone  on  which  the  law  was  graven  to  prove 
that  he  was  an  intermediary  between  God  and  Man 
and  left  them  as  a  treasure  to  His  people,  the  historic 
Christ  is  not  claimed  to  have  transmitted  or  written 
a  line,  though  He  is  by  none  suspected  of  having 
been  illiterate.  It  would  not  have  mattered,  if  He 
was  what  He  is  claimed  to  have  been,  whether  He 
had  any  schooling  or  not;  He  was  capable  of  success- 
fully disputing  with  the  Doctors  of  the  Law,  and 
such  a  thing  as  learning  to  write  was  unnecessary  to 
One  who  had  power  to  raise  the  dead  and  could  easily 
have  covered  every  rock  in  Palestine  with  inscriptions 
graven  instantly  by  the  Almighty  hand  to  bear  witness 
to  His  mission  as  the  Son  of  God  who  had  come  to 
save  the  world.  Indeed,  as  He  had  come  to  save  the 
whole  world,  and  as  a  real  part  of  the  Infinite  Father 
was  Omnipotent,  Omnipresent  and  Omniscient,  He 
could  have  placed  His  law  and  the  story  of  His  mis- 
sion on  the  rocky  faces  of  every  mountain  of  this 


204  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

planet,  and  knowing,  as  the  Infinitely  Wise  must  have 
known,  that  both  His  personality  and  His  mission 
would  be  denied  before  He  was  cold  from  the  cross, 
He  would  have  left  some  indestructible  memorial,  or 
such  an  array  of  memorials  that  no  dispute  could  have 
arisen.  Indeed,  we  cannot  conceive  that  One  who 
worked  such  wonders  as  we  are  told  He  worked,  failed 
to  bring  to  His  way  of  thinking  every  reasonable 
being  in  Palestine  and  all  the  little  world  of  civiliza- 
tion that  then  existed.  If  the  miracles  He  worked 
were  not  sufficiently  great  for  this  He  could  have 
worked  greater;  if  they  were  not  sufficiently  numer- 
ous He  could  have  worked  many  more  if  He  was  a 
Real  Part,  the  Empowered  Messenger,  of  Infinity. 
But  not  a  line  of  writing,  not  a  particle  of  evidence  of 
any  kind  except  the  Gospels,  the  oldest  of  which — • 
said  to  be  that  of  Mark — is  not  even  claimed  to  have 
been  written  for  at  least  thirty  years  after  Christ's 
death.  How  do  Theologians  explain  that  such  over- 
whelming evidences  of  supernatural  power  were  not 
presented  as  would  at  once  and  forever  have  made 
dispute  impossible  if  Christ's  mission  and  message 
were  intended  as  a  finality?  According  to  them  noth- 
ing should  have  been  left  to  REASON,  as  Reason 
has  nothing  to  do  with  shaping  Faith.  If  such  is  the 
case,  and  Christ  was  a  supernatural  visitant,  why  was 
the  getting  together  of  evidence  of  His  existence  not 


THE:  LAW  OF  CHRIST — ITS  ORIGIN         205 

begun  for  thirty  years  after  His  death,  and  admittedly 
not  completed  by  the  other  Gospel  writers  till  they 
must  have  been  in  their  extreme  dotage,  or  left  to  be 
written  after  they  had  died,  with  no  more  accuracy 
than  could  be  given  to  a  tradition?  Even  the  getting 
back  of  so-called  Apostolic  writings  to  within  a  gener- 
ation, or  two  generations,  after  His  alleged  death  is 
largely  a  matter  of  guesswork,  for  the  oldest  manu- 
scripts of  the  Gospels  that  have  been  found  were 
written  in  Greek  and  of  a  date  over  three  hundred 
years  after  the  time  of  the  alleged  Messiah.  How 
is  it  that  nothing  has  been  found  written  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country  in  which  the  tremendous  events 
recorded  are  said  to  have  taken  place — a  country  in 
which  the  Greek  language  was  unknown  to  the  peas- 
ants of  the  interior,  such  as  the  Apostles  are  claimed 
to  have  been?  It  is  as  weak,  as  evidence,  as  would 
be  an  account,  written  in  French  by  a  Franco-Scotch- 
man living  in  Rome,  of  a  series  of  events  in  the  Low- 
lands of  Scotland  hundreds  of  years  prior  to  its  date. 
What  would  we  think  of  the  common  sense  of  Captain 
Peary  in  his  search  for  the  North  Pole  if  he  had  not 
written  a  line,  nor  registered  an  observation,  nor 
communicated  with  any  Geographical  Society,  nor 
taken  any  steps  whatever  to  establish  his  point  of 
geographical  Rightness,  but  had  left  everything  to  a 
dozen  of  his  illiterate  Icelandic  sailors  to  be  described 


206  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE; 

by  them  from  memory  after  his  death  or  handed  down 
by  them  as  tradition?  What  sort  of  evidence  would 
these  traditions  be  considered  three  hundred  years 
hence  if  found  written  in  a  language  not  spoken  by 
Captain  Peary  nor  any  of  his  sailors?  We  cannot 
conceive  of  a  course  so  obviously  idiotic  being  pur- 
sued by  any  man  deserving  the  slightest  recognition 
as  Great,  yet  it  would  very  nearly  parallel  the  alleged 
history  we  have  of  Christ  and  His  work  in  Palestine. 

That  Christ  was  directly  begotten  of  God  and  had 
all  the  powers  of  His  Father,  yet  failed  to  exercise 
all  His  powers  on  a  mission  so  important  as  the  salva- 
tion of  the  human  race,  is  not  conceivable.  If  He  had 
such  powers  and  did  not  exercise  them  it  is  because 
He  did  not  desire  to,  and  wilfully  withheld  such  over- 
whelming and  obvious  demonstrations  as  would  have 
been  irresistible  and  never-to-be-forgotten.  If  He 
was  a  human  being  simply,  with  extraordinary  com- 
prehension of  the  Infinite  law  and  the  laws  of  Ex- 
pressed Life  as  have  since  been  demonstrated  by  sci- 
ence to  exist,  He  would  have  taken  some  better  means 
to  establish  the  fact  that  He  lived  and  worked,  as  it  is 
alleged  He  lived  and  worked,  than  were  taken.  No 
man,  no  superman,  with  knowledge  and  foresight  such 
as  Christ  must  have  had  of  the  superlative  importance 
of  His  mission  and  the  difficulties  of  establishing  Him- 
self and  it  in  history,  would  have  neglected  this  im- 


THE:  LAW  OF  CHRIST — ITS  ORIGIN         207 

portant  feature  of  His  work.  Yet  it  was  so  neglected, 
for  even  His  alleged  immediate  followers,  who  must 
have  known  how  uncertain  was  their  tenure  of  life, 
are  not  even  claimed  to  have  begun  the  work  of  put- 
ting His  life  and  mission  on  record  until  so  many 
years  had  elapsed — in  that  country  where  communica- 
tion was  so  difficult,  where  there  were  no  postoffices, 
no  newspapers,  no  means  of  doing  things  as  they  are 
done  nowadays — that  the  genuineness  of  their  testi- 
mony was  left  open  to  the  gravest  doubts.  No  ordi- 
nary man  would  have  left  his  business — Christ's  "busi- 
ness" was  the  "work  of  the  Father" — in  such  a  state, 
with  premonitions  such  as  He  had  of  an  untimely  end. 
The  more  we  turn  over  alleged  facts  in  our  Reason, 
the  more  the  testimony  appears  to  lose  even  the  value 
of  "hearsay"  evidence.  No  written  statements  ap- 
peared until  even  "hearsay"  denials  of  the  truth  oi 
them  had  become  practically  impossible.  We  do  not 
know  how  much  publicity  Mark's  account  of  Christ's 
doings  was  given  at  the  time  it  is  claimed  to  have 
been  written.  Its  circulation  was  probably  confined 
to  those  who  had  assisted  in  its  preparation,  and  as 
there  were  no  newspapers  published  at  that  time  there 
could  have  then  been  no  discussion  of  its  authenticity 
and  no  incentive  could  have  been  felt  nor  means  easily 
adopted  for  anyone  knowing  the  untruth  of  it  to  put 
a  rebuttal  of  the  story  in  a  lasting  shape.  The  strong- 


208  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

est  point  the  believers  in  the  historic  Christ  have  so 
far  been  able  to  present  has  been  the  survival  and  in- 
fluence of  the  doctrines  alleged  to  have  been  taught 
by  Him.  Nothing  but  "truth/'  they  say,  could  have 
thus  survived  through  the  centuries.  This  is  admit- 
tedly true.  The  principles  alleged  to  have  been  taught 
by  Christ  were  sound  and  far  ahead  of  their  time,  and 
if  they  had  not  been  Theologized  would  have  had 
vastly  greater  effect. 

There  is  no  dispute  that  at  or  about  the  time  of 
Christ  a  propaganda  for  the  spread  of  these  principles 
was  begun,  nor  that  they  were  wider,  deeper  and 
greater  than  could  be  comprehended  by  those  who 
Theologized  them.  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  work 
to  minimize,  but  to  magnify  the  Christ  Principle.  It 
is  unimportant,  as  affecting  the  soundness  of  the  posi- 
tion taken  herein,  whether  Christ  as  a  man  lived  and 
labored  as  He  is  described  in  the  New  Testament 
to  have  lived  and  labored,  or  if  it  was  John,  the  Alex- 
andrian Jew  and  "apostle,"  or  someone  unknown  to 
us,  who  saw  the  Light  and  started  the  propaganda 
for  its  diffusion  by  projecting  a  theoretical  Christ, 
clothing  Him  in  the  garb  of  a  Nazarene,  and  having 
slightly  varying  accounts  of  His  origin  and  doings 
written  by  pseudo-apostles.  If  it  was  the  latter,  who- 
ever evolved  the  idea  did  it  for  what  he  esteemed 
RIGHTNESS— that  which  would  be  the  most  effec- 


LAW  OF  CHRIST — ITS  ORIGIN         209 

tive.  It  is  not  easy  to  teach  abstract  principles.  Un- 
personified  virtues  are  not  appreciated.  Following  a 
leader  is  much  easier  than  following  a  principle.  We 
are  all  willing  to  try  to  do  that  desirable  thing  said 
to  have  been  done  by  another,  while  we  might  refuse 
even  to  attempt  to  follow  the  same  line  of  conduct  if 
it  had  never  been  demonstrated  to  be  feasible.  The 
problem  of  inducing  the  world  to  accept  the  Christ 
Principle  must  have  seemed  indeed  difficult  to  him 
who  first  saw  its  force  and  beauty,  and  it  could  not 
have  appeared  to  be  a  great  task  to  such  a  mind  to 
invent  a  personage  to  personify  the  principles  and 
become  a  Hero  whom  mankind  would  follow.  The 
spread  of  the  propaganda  seems  to  have  been  most 
successful  amongst  the  Jews  living  remote  from 
Jerusalem,  and  we  are  told  (Acts  11:26)  "The  Dis- 
ciples (students)  were  called  Christians  first  in  An- 
tioch" — a  city  some  three  hundred  miles  northeast  of 
Jerusalem.  To  this  day  Christianity,  except  amongst 
foreigners,  has  little  hold  in  Palestine.  Paul,  whose 
writings  are  of  a  period  about  a  hundred  years  after 
Christ,  as  he  himself  admits,  before  his  conversion  was 
a  fanatical  Jew,  and  his  writings  prove  that  after  his 
conversion  he  became  a  fanatical  Christian.  To  him 
we  appear  to  owe  the  first  Theologizing  of  the  Christ 
Principle,  the  working  over  of  that  which  was  Truth 
into  what  cannot  be  considered  any  better  than  human 


210  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

dogma  and  creed.  Paul's  attempts  to  harmonize  his 
faith  as  a  Jew  with  his  practices  as  a  Christian;  to 
hold  to  circumcision  and  yet  reject  it;  to  believe  the 
Gentile  has  as  good  a  status  with  the  Infinite  as  the 
Jew  while  he  was  still  unfreed  from  the  prejudices 
of  his  race;  to  preach  the  Free  Will  of  Man  while 
holding  to  predestination,  foreordination,  and  the  like, 
show  that,  skilled  as  he  was  in  logic,  he  had  not 
grasped  the  true  meaning  of  the  Christ  Principle. 
After  Paul,  and  with  his  writings  as  the  principal 
basis,  it  was  not  hard  for  less  sincere  and  less  able 
men  further  to  befuddle  his  Theology  and  to  push  the 
Light  into  greater  obscurity.  Nearly  all  the  "mira- 
cles" ascribed  to  Christ  are  those  of  healing  the  sick, 
and  upon  these  and  a  repetition  of  such  wonders  the 
author  of  the  propaganda  appears  to  have  relied  for 
the  spread  of  the  Principle.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
early  Christians  had  great  power  for  the  healing  of 
the  sick  and  the  control  of  their  own  bodies,  but  as 
the  Christ  Principle  became  enshrouded  in  Theological 
mummeries  this  disappeared. 

What  has  just  been  said  is  based  on  the  assumption 
that  Christianity  began  with  a  theoretical  rather  than 
a  personal  Christ,  and  if  we  take  one  more  glance  at 
the  picture  which  has  been  presented  to  us  in  the  New 
Testament  we  will  see  how  devoid  of  background  and 
perspective  it  is;  that  it  is  like  a  photograph  taken  of  a 


THE:  LAW  o$  CHRIST — ITS  ORIGIN          2 1 1 

picture  and  not  of  flesh  and  blood.  However  this  may 
appear  to  you,  it  is  really  immaterial  whether  Christ 
as  a  MAN  ever  lived  or  not ;  what  is  recognized  as 
the  CHRIST  PRINCIPLE  has  lived  in  spite  of  the 
Theologians.  It  is  important,  however,  to  establish 
that  Christ  as  a  GOD  did  not  live  and  work  as  alleged. 
If  His  birth  was  a  "miracle,"  then  what  we  had 
thought  to  have  established  as  the  law  that  Infinity 
does  not  interfere  with  nor  intrude  into  any  Conscious- 
ness, falls  to  the  ground.  If  Christ  had  no  earthly 
father,  then  the  Infinite  intruded  into  the  Conscious- 
ness of  Mary,  contrary  to  everything  which  demon- 
strates the  sanctity  of  the  Consciousness  of  the  min- 
utest elemental  atom.  Even  the  writers  of  Genesis 
recognized  that  reproduction  should  be  "everything 
after  its  kind."  Every  observer,  every  observation 
recorded  in  the  history  of  Things  demonstrates  this 
law  to  be  inviolable,  to  be  the  LAW  OF  RIGHT- 
NESS  ITSELF.  Unless  we  absolutely  deny  our  abil- 
ity to  arrive  by  REASON  at  any  correct  conclusion, 
we  must  put  the  Immaculate  Conception  into  the  book 
of  myths  with  the  stories  of  the  supernatural  origin 
of  gods  and  demigods  of  all  ages.  Nothing  in  the 
alleged  history  of  Christ  or  His  claims  supports  the 
theory  that  He  was  actually  a  God,  the  Son — without 
the  intervention  of  a  physical  father — of  the  Infinite. 
If  He  had  been,  there  would  have  been  a  declaration 


212  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

of  it  made  with  such  tremendous  power  that  the  whole 
Universe  would  have  been  shaken.  Instead,  we  have 
but  a  voice  reported  to  have  been  heard  at  Christ's 
baptism  saying,  "This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I 
am  well  pleased."  Why,  might  we  ask  the  believers 
in  a  Personal  God,  did  not  the  Infinite  appear  in  per- 
son and  demonstrate  the  status  of  His  alleged  Son? 
But  a  small  minority  of  the  people  nowadays  believe 
in  the  manifestations  of  spirits  through  mediums  or 
table-rappings,  because  they  are  incoherent  and  in- 
conclusive, yet  the  whole  world  is  asked  to  accept  the 
Divinity  of  Christ  on  the  basis  of  a  similar  manifesta- 
tion said  to  have  occurred  half  a  lifetime  before  it  was 
reported.  Why  were  the  miracles,  even  if  they  took 
place  as  reported,  done  in  such  obscurity  and  locally 
so  ineffectually  that  Palestine  was  not  convulsed  with 
fear  and  trembling  at  the  presence  of  such  a  wonder- 
worker? Yet  Josephus  and  all  the  historians  of  that 
period  apparently  never  heard  of  him,  and  Palestine 
as  a  community  was  unmoved.  Why  was  anything 
left  half  done?  If  the  Infinite  sent  His  Son  to  do  a 
thing,  how  came  it  about  that  it  was  not  instantly 
done?  Sending  His  Son  meant  that  the  Infinite  in- 
tended something  to  be  done,  and  surely  we  cannot 
imagine  that  either  His  power  or  intention  failed 
Theologians  cannot  argue  that  very  little  was  given 
to  us  because  we  were  able  by  means  of  Reason  to 


THE:  LAW  OF  CHRIST — ITS  ORIGIN         213 

complete  the  structure.  They  claim  for  Christ's  mis- 
sion a  finality  that  cannot  be  called  in  question.  Then 
what  was  to  have  been  done  should  have  been  done 
and  left  on  record  so  that  even  the  "wayfaring  man 
though  a  fool"  could  not  err  therein.  If  God  sent  His 
Son  once  and  His  mission  failed  to  the  extent  that 
Christ's  did,  why  did  not  He  send  another  Son,  or  the 
same  Son  again,  and  keep  sending  Him,  if  that  is  His 
way  of  doing  business  ?  That  He  sent  His  Son  to  be 
crucified  as  an  Atonement  for  some  preposterous  sin 
committed  by  Adam  before  he  was  endowed  with  Rea- 
son and  therefore  could  not  have  been  a  man  at  all, 
should  not  be  entertained  by  any  sane  person.  In- 
deed, the  whole  story  of  the  supernatural  Christ  is  a 
figment  of  the  imagination;  a  picture  painted  in  a 
little  flat  world  filled  with  petty  tyrants,  ruled  by 
gods  and  demi-gods  who  had  to  be  propitiated  by 
bloody  sacrifices,  burnt  offerings,  and  unintelligible 
mummeries.  That  the  world  has  worshipped  this  pic- 
ture so  long  after  the  little  flat  world  had  been  found 
to  be  a  planet,  one  of  innumerable  celestial  bodies 
governed  by  unchanging  Infinite  law,  proves  that  re- 
ligion with  the  majority  of  us  is  almost  altogether 
Subconscious,  and,  like  red  hair  and  big  feet,  heredi- 
tary. 

We  have  been  seeking  to  see  the  Infinite  from  the 
standpoint  of  Reason  enlightened  by  the  Infinite  Urge. 


214  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

And  surely  the  picture  of  the  great  restful  Everywhere, 
the  reposeful  Everything,  the  All- Wise,  the  Omnipo- 
tent Then,  and  Now,  and  Always,  the  Loving  though 
Intangible  in  which  every  expressed  Thing  finds  peace, 
is  more  beautiful  to  contemplate,  more  possible  to 
realize,  than  the  Yahweh,  the  Jehovah,  the  Personal 
Deity,  full  of  jealousy  and  blood-thirst,  who,  if 
Hebraic  history  be  true,  was  satisfied  with  being  the 
God  of  nothing  more  important  than  the  none  too 
fruitful  fields  and  not  too  lovely  people  of  Palestine. 

Before  leaving  this  subject  it  might  be  well  to  an- 
swer the  question,  "How  is  it,  if  there  never  was  a 
personal  Christ,  that  to  this  day  we  reckon  the  year 
as  it  passes  as  being  a  certain  number  since  Christ?" 
The  present  system  of  dating  things  as  being  in  such 
a  "year  of  our  Lord"  was  not  suggested  until  526 
years  after  the  alleged  birth  of  Christ.  Before  that 
time  and  long  afterwards  the  years  were  computed 
according  to  the  Julian  calendar  instituted  by  Caesar 
46  years  before  Christ  is  alleged  to  have  been  born, 
having  for  its  basis  the  foundation  of  Rome.  Accord- 
ing to  this  calendar,  in  754  the  monk  Dionysius 
Exigius  computed  the  present  calendar — the  reckon- 
ing by  Anno  Domini.  But  it  did  not  for  many  years 
come  into  general  observance,  and  not  then  in  its 
present  shape.  In  some  countries  and  in  certain 
periods  the  year  was  reckoned  as  beginning  at  the 


THE  LAW  OF  CHRIST — ITS  ORIGIN         215 

Annunciation,  the  25th  of  March,  while  in  other 
countries  the  year  began  at  Christmas.  Various 
changes  were  made  at  various  times,  but  even  yet  the 
dates  in  the  Christian  and  Julian  calendars  do  not 
harmonize  even  after  allowance  is  made  for  the  dif- 
ferent periods  upon  which  they  are  based.  This 
establishes  the  fact  that  our  present  calendar  histori- 
cally proves  nothing,  even  if  it  tallied  exactly  with  the 
Julian  calendar,  which  it  does  not,  as  there  is  a  dis- 
crepancy of  some  four  or  five  years,  which  places  the 
birth  of  Christ  as  commemorated  by  it  some  four  or 
five  years  out  of  gear  with  the  time  it  is  said  to  have 
taken  place.  Moreover,  the  Sunday  of  our  calendar 
does  not  tally  with  the  Sabbath  of  the  Hebrews, 
the  latter,  as  we  all  know,  coming  on  Saturday. 
Again,  Sunday  and  all  the  days  of  the  week  as  we 
have  them  named  commemorate  the  worship  of  Pagan 
gods,  such  as  the  worship  of  the  Sun  for  Sunday,  the 
Moon  for  Monday,  Tiw  for  Tuesday,  Woden  for 
Wednesday,  Thor  for  Thursday,  Frigga  for  Friday 
and  Saturn  for  Saturday.  It  is  not  possible  in  a  work 
like  this  to  go  into  further  details,  as  it  would  take  a 
book  instead  of  a  chapter  to  present  the  evidence  ob- 
tainable that  our  calendar  and  many  of  our  church 
services  are  founded  on  Pagan  traditions.  Indeed, 
our  calendar,  which  was  only  put  exactly  in  its  pres- 


216  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

ent  shape  by  Pope  Gregory  in  1582,  when  he  annulled 
ten  days  and  adjusted  Leap  Year,  does  not  tally  with 
the  Greek  calendar,  which  is  also  a  Christian  institu- 
tion and  has  a  Christmas  and  Easter  of  its  own. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

JUDGMENT  DAY"  —  FOREVER  IN  WHICH  TO 
DECIDE. 


We  have  seen  in  the  course  of  these  studies  that 
everything  is  controlled  by  LAW.  We  have  found 
but  one  law  which  is  invariable,  controlling  Reasoning 
and  Unreasoning  Nature  alike  —  the  Law  of  RIGHT- 
NESS  —  and  have  concluded  that  it  is  the  only  IN- 
FINITE LAW.  The  Finite  Laws,  those  governing 
Expressed  Life,  we  have  found  to  be  the  co-operative 
impulses  of  the  Consciousnesses  and  Subconscious- 
nesses  of  the  Universe,  acting  and  re-acting  upon  each 
other,  and  thus  producing  variety  as  the  Laws  of  At- 
traction and  Repulsion  modify  the  Law  of  Gravity. 
The  Infinite  Law  is  Universal,  Unbreakable  —  Right- 
ness  must  always  and  everywhere  prevail.  We  have 
seen  that  this  RIGHTNESS  is  that  of  Each  Thing 
After  Its  Kind  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  what  we 
call  Moral  Rightness,  except  that  it  exercises  its  Urge 
upon  Reasoning  Life  as  well  as  Unreasoning  Life, 
thus  giving  to  each  an  irresistible  impulse  towards 
the  achievement  of  perfection  from  a  SET  POINT 
of  RIGHTNESS.  In  Unreasoning  Life  this  SET 


218  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

POINT  is  fixed  by  Infinity  in  the  Consciousness  of 
each  Thing,  while  in  Reasoning  Life  the  Conscious- 
ness must  fix  some  POINT  OF  RIGHTNESS  of  its 
own  at  the  moment  of  action  before  it  can  Conscious- 
ly act.  In  this  way  was  the  harmony  of  the  Universe 
ordained,  and  in  this  way  it  is  preserved,  and  we  can 
conceive  of  no  other  way  that  either  could  have  been 
accomplished.  As  the  Infinite  sets  the  will  of  all  Un- 
reasoning Consciousnesses  and  leaves  them  to  work 
out  their  various  partnerships  and  combinations 
and  colonizations  by  themselves,  but  always  im- 
pelled by  the  Infinite  Urge,  it  is  evident  that  all 
Unreasoning  Life  is  thus  controlled  by  the  Infinite, 
which  at  the  same  time  divests  itself  of  the  man- 
agement of  the  Things,  which  are  thus  left  to 
manage  themselves,  yet  without  the  possibility  of 
mismanagement  taking  place.  Thus  since  the 
"creative"  fiat  or  fiats  which  called  the  various  Con- 
sciousnesses into  existence,  the  GREAT  RESTFUL 
INFINITE  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  Unreasoning 
Life  but  put  forth  its  Urge  to  Rightness.  Its  relation 
to  Reasoning  Life  is  absolutely  the  same.  The  purely 
animal  Expression  of  human  life  has  developed  in  the 
same  way  and  by  the  same  means  as  all  other  animal 
life,  through  experience  and  necessity,  though  the  ex- 
perience of  Reasoning  Life  has  been  widened  by  Rea- 
son and  has  been  modified  by  it  to  the  extent  that 


THE  JUDGMENT  DAY  219 

Reason  has  been  brought  to  bear  upon  it.  When  the 
Infinite  made  it  impossible  for  Reasoning  Life  Con- 
sciously to  act  without  at  the  moment  of  action  de- 
claring its  action  to  be  RIGHT,  it  left  Reasoning 
Life  to  its  own  devices,  working  upon  it  only  as  it 
works  upon  Unreasoning  Life,  by  its  general  Urge 
to  Rightness  of  its  Kind.  Thus  we  all  have  to  de- 
clare— i.  e.,  decide — at  the  moment  of  conscious  action 
that  what  we  are  about  to  do  is  RIGHT  for  US  to 
do.  When,  judging  from  the  effect  of  our  action,  we 
find  we  have  not  been  RIGHT,  we  decide  not  to  re- 
peat the  action,  and  have  gained  that  much  Experi- 
ence. If  again  and  again  we  repeat  the  same  mistake 
it  becomes  a  folly,  i.  e.,  the  act  of  a  fool.  If,  by  rea 
son  of  a  Subconsciousness  degenerated  by  repetitions 
of  a  mistake  into  the  possession  of  a  fool  habit,  as  is 
the  case  with  the  so-called  "incurable"  drunkard,  dis- 
ease and  the  falling  away  from  him  of  his  physical 
body  result,  he  certainly  goes  on  to  another  plane  of 
existence,  where  his  experience  will  be  more  curative 
than  it  has  been  on  this  plane.  Of  one  thing  we  may 
be  sure,  that  the  Infinite,  which  censors  every  change 
of  one  state  of  mind  into  another  state  of  mind,  will 
as  instantly  pass  the  drunkard's  resolution  of  ab- 
stinence into  his  decision  to  take  his  last  and  fatal 
spree,  as  it  will  pass  his  decision  to  change  from 
drunkenness  into  abstinence.  He  must  gain  his  own 


220  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

experience  and  profit  by  it  or  suffer  from  it  according 
to  the  extent  that  he  has  been  guided  by  Rightness. 
That  he  is  at  the  end  of  his  experience  when  he  drops 
this  body  given  to  him  to  express  himself  in  Time 
and  Space,  Here  and  Now,  is  as  unreasonable  and 
contrary  to  everything  that  we  see  about  us  in  Rea- 
soning and  Unreasoning  Nature  as  it  would  be  to 
consider  him  "dead"  because  he  has  taken  off  his 
clothing  and  gone  to  sleep.  His  Consciousness — Rea- 
son— is  Elemental,  Indestructible,  as  is  every  other 
Elemental  Consciousness.  It  is  what  individualizes 
him  as  a  Man.  Nothing  like  it  is  known  to  us  in  the 
Universe.  It  is  one  of  the  Elemental  Expressions  of 
Infinity,  for  it  is  Alone  and  did  not  come  by  chance, 
or  partnership,  or  combination.  It  can  be  divested 
of  nothing  and  remain  Reason.  It  is  indissolubly 
linked  with  the  Subconsciousness,  for  without  the 
Subconsciousness  to  prompt  it  to  wrong  decisions,  or 
without  the  Supraconsciousness  to  prompt  it  to  right 
decisions,  it  would  have  no  office,  and  its  indisputable 
purpose  is  to  decide  between  what  we  call  Right  and 
Wrong.  The  human  Subconsciousness,  which  thus 
must  continue  to  exist  to  provide  employment  for  Rea- 
son, cannot  lose  its  consciousness  of  shape  and  form, 
and  the  spiritual  body  when  divested  of  its  fleshly  ex- 
pression will  always,  as  now,  be  filled  to  its  fulness 
with  Infinite  Life,  the  Supraconsciousness.  It  must 


THE:  JUDGMENT  DAY  221 

be  evident,  then,  that  this  unique  combination  existing 
on  this  plane  must  continue  to  exist  in  progressive 
degrees  of  Rightness  on  all  other  planes.  If  it  is  not 
so,  if  the  Subconsciousness  falls  away  at  what  we  call 
death  and  disappears  into  its  elemental  atoms,  as  is 
the  case  with  all  other  Subconsciousnesses,  Reason, 
incapable  of  making  any  other  partnership,  would  be 
homeless,  purposeless,  meaningless,  and  therefore  un- 
like any  other  elemental  Consciousness  in  the  Uni- 
verse. It  is  inconceivable  that  this  Supreme  Con- 
sciousness, the  possession  of  which  makes  Man  the 
pinnacle  of  Expressed  Life,  should,  for  lack  of  a  Sub- 
consciousness,  be  left  as  an  indestructible,  purposeless 
Thing.  It  is  contrary  to  every  manifestation  of  the 
Infinite's  purpose,  which  in  all  Things  holds  forth  Per- 
fection as  the  possible  achievement  of  every  Thing 
According  to  Its  Kind.  What,  then,  is  the  perfection 
of  Reason — the  human  Consciousness?  It  is  the  ar- 
rival at  RIGHTNESS  OF  ITS  OWN  FINDING. 
It  must  decide — and  decide — and  decide — and  keep 
on  deciding,  through  this  life  Here  and  Now,  and 
through  that  life  There  and  Then,  until  it  reaches 
RIGHTNESS.  Any  other  estimate  of  its  purpose 
and  perpetuity  will  not  stand  the  scrutiny  of  even 
the  unskilled. 

Either  everything  is  governed  by  law  or  it  is  not. 
If  it  is  not,  then  the  countless  billions  of  Things  are 


222  THE;  THINKING  UNIVKRSK 

worked  all  at  once  in  their  different  ways  by  the  In- 
finite Mind  without  the  intervention  of  an  organized 
system  which  pre-supposes  Law.  To  do  this,  the  In- 
finite Mind  must  be  capable  of  what  to  the  Finite 
Mind  is  impossible,  that  of  doing  more  than  one  thing 
at  once,  or  of  being  in  more  places  than  one  at  a  time, 
a  state  of  things  involving  a  contradiction  of  terms 
and  instantly  dismissed  by  the  Reason.  We  cannot 
conceive  of  a  motor  car  going  in  two  directions  at 
once,  or  of  a  man  being  in  London  and  New  York 
at  the  same  time,  or  of  thinking  of  food  and  philoso- 
phy at  identically  the  same  moment.  There  is  no 
necessity  to  think  of  the  Infinite  as  we  understand  It 
being  in  two  places  at  once,  as  IT  is  Everywhere  and 
Everything  always.  That  It  can  do  two  things  at 
once  is  in  every  respect  inconceivable.  As  we  under- 
stand the  Infinite  It  does  but  one  thing,  i.  e.,  Urges 
everything  to  Rightness  of  its  Kind,  and  as  thinking 
and  acting  are  the  same  to  the  Infinite  as  they  are 
to  us,  the  latter  the  expression  of  the  former,  the 
office  of  the  Infinite  is  intelligible  to  us  as  it  can  be 
in  no  other  way. 

Try  for  a  moment  to  imagine  a  lawless  Universe. 
You  can  see  nothing  but  chaos.  The  same  argument 
that  proves  that  the  Universe  is  ruled  by  law  proves 
that  it  is  ALWAYS  ruled  by  LAW,  for  if  there  was 
a  moment  when  Law  ceased  to  be  it  would  be  the 


THE  JUDGMENT  DAY  223 

moment  when  the  Universe  ceased  to  be — Chaos. 
Next  to  Law  comes  Reason.  Under  the  ONE  IN- 
FINITE LAW— RIGHTNESS— Reason  must  and 
does  rule  all  Reasoning  Life.  The  Infinite  does  not 
reason,  for  reasoning  is  the  process  of  arriving  at 
Rightness,  and  the  Infinite  being  always  Right  does 
not  require  to  reason.  Excepting  Man,  nothing  re- 
quires to  find  Rightness,  as  each  Thing  after  its  Kind 
is  ordained  by  the  Infinite  to  a  Rightness  of  its  own. 
It  is  thus  seen  that  Man  stands  beside  and  close  to 
the  Infinite,  not  "close"  in  a  geographical  sense,  for 
the  Infinite  fills  him  to  the  fulness  of  his  Conscious- 
ness, but  close  to  the  Infinite  in  the  qualities  and  possi- 
bilities of  MIND.  Between  the  Infinite  and  the 
Human  Mind  there  is  and  can  be  nothing  but  that 
constriction  which  makes  the  human  being  a  Thing 
instead  of  the  Infinite  itself.  In  other  words,  each 
one  of  us  is  the  Infinite  knowing  himself  or  herseit 
to  be  a  man  or  a  woman.  That  we  know  that  this 
constriction  exists  is  the  reason  that  we  know  we  are 
not  in  every  sense  the  Infinite.  It  is  because  we  have 
been  taught  that  this  constriction  is  greater,  more 
tangible  than  it  is,  that  we  do  not  realize  that  we 
are  as  near  to  the  Infinite  as  we  are.  Again  let  us 
remember  that  this  nearness  is  not  spacial,  as  we  are 
filled  to  our  fulness  with  the  Infinite,  but  that  it  ex- 
presses a  likeness  of  quality,  of  purpose,  which  to  each 


224  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE; 

one  of  us  should  represent  as  an  instant,  propelling 
thing  our  possible  perfection.  When  we  fully  recog- 
nize this  we  will  cease  to  fumble  in  the  darkness  of 
Theological  decisions  to  find  the  Holy  Ghost  or  a 
personal  Christ  to  act  as  an  intermediary  between  us 
and  that  INFINITE  of  which  we  are,  and  which  is 
of  us.  In  the  words  of  the  Great  Philosophy,  "Why 
cry  lo  here !  and  lo  there !  The  Kingdom  of  Good  is 
within  you."  If  it  be  a  Kingdom,  you  are  King,  and 
you  have  no  over-lord;  the  over-lord  is  within  you, 
it  is  the  YOU  that  is  to  be.  It  then  must  be  thaTall 
the  God,  the  Good,  that  you  have,  or  ever  will  have, 
is  within  you,  and  the  Infinite,  Irresistible,  Eternal 
Law  of  Rightness,  working  upon  you  from  within 
you,  with  unceasing  Urge,  will  force  you  to  decide — 
and  decide — and  decide,  until  you  arrive  at  a  Right- 
ness  of  Your  Own  Finding,  though  it  may  take  a  mil- 
lion cycles  of  centuries  before  you  arrive  at  the  Per- 
fection which  must  ultimately  be  yours.  "The  Heav- 
ens and  the  earth  may  pass  away,"  or  seem  to  pass 
away,  the  sun  and  the  stars  and  the  planets  may  dis- 
appear, but  YOU,  in  a  spiritual  body,  capable  of  joy 
or  suffering  as  you  may  bring  it  upon  yourself,  will 
still  be  deciding — deciding — deciding — until  you  be- 
come RIGHT.  Would  it  not  be  well  for  you  tc 
begin  to  pay  that  respect  to  Reason  which  is  its  due 
NOW? 


THE  JUDGMENT  DAY  225 

"This,  then/*  cries  some  weak  spirit,  "is  all  that 
your  philosophy  has  to  offer  us — an  eternity  of  inde- 
cision." Not  an  Eternity  of  Indecision,  but  of  Decid- 
ing. What  is  life,  as  we  are  living  it  now,  but  a 
sequence  of  decidings — of  decisions  ?  We  decide  to 
rise  in  the  morning;  we  decide  to  eat  our  breakfast; 
we  decide  to  go  to  work  or  play;  we  decide  every 
hour  how  we  shall  conduct  that  which  we  engage  in ; 
and  thus  all  day  long  we  are  deciding — and  deciding 
— and  deciding,  until  we  decide  to  go  to  sleep,  and 
wake  up  to  begin  deciding  again.  What  would  life 
be  if  we  had  no  decisions  to  make?  Would  it  not  be 
a  dead  level,  an  unendurable  monotony,  to  those  who 
are  given  Reason  to  use,  not  to  fold  up  and  put  away  ? 
Think  for  a  moment  of  yourself  with  nothing  to  de- 
cide. You  would  be  like  the  brute,  the  tree.  If  this 
philosophy,  begotten  of  Science  and  Enlightened  Rea- 
son, offers  you  an  eternal  opportunity  of  exercising 
your  Consciousness — Reason — it  offers  you  the  eter- 
nal perpetuation  of  your  personality  by  the  exercise 
of  which  the  Future  becomes  filled  with  possibilities  of 
achievements  and  the  joys  they  bring.  Why  do  we 
keep  our  Reason  busy  with  plans  for  Amassing 
Wealth,  Obtaining  Power,  Becoming  Popular,  if  it  is 
not  for  the  joy  of  achieving?  The  merest  clod  on  the 
earth's  surface  finds  its  or  his  joy  in  doing  that  thing 


226  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

best  for  which  it  or  he  is  fitted.     A  Future  without 
this  would  be  a  Blank. 

Glance  at  the  other  side  of  the  question — at  what 
Theology  has  to  oiler  you — a  habitation  in  a  City  of 
White  and  Gold,  Built  Without  Hands,  Eternal  in  the 
Heavens.  If  you  have  the  good  fortune  to  enter  this 
Abode  of  the  Blessed — an  entrance  obtained  by  chloro- 
forming your  Reason,  not  by  means  of  it — you  will 
be  privileged  to  gaze  through  countless  years  of  "joy" 
at  God  seated  on  a  Great  White  Throne,  with  Christ 
on  one  hand  and  the  Holy  Ghost  on  the  other,  and 
you  will  have  nothing  to  decide,  for  everything  will 
be  decided  for  you — you  will  be  permitted  to  have 
no  opinion,  no  vote.  When  the  trumpet  leading  the 
orchestra  starts  Gloria  in  Bxcelsis,  Gloria  in  Excelsis 
it  must  be,  from  the  chief  harp  next  the  Throne  down 
to  the  smallest  penny  whistle  in  the  suburbs  of  the 
City  of  the  Great  King.  When  it  is  the  thing  to  loll 
around  under  the  Tree  of  Life,  then  loll  you  must; 
you  have  no  opinion,  no  voice  in  the  matter.  You 
are  achieving  nothing,  you  are  going  nowhere;  in 
fact,  you  are  nothing,  for  without  Reason  and  its 
exercise  you  cease  to  be  a  Man.  When  you  pass  the 
Devil  chained  to  the  gatepost,  as  it  is  supposed  he  will 
be  if  he  can  be  spared  from  the  management  of  Hell, 
you  won't  even  want  to  give  him  a  kick;  you  won't 
have  spunk  enough  even  to  make  faces  at  him,  for 


JUDGMENT  DAY  227 

you  will  be  wearing  a  Halo  instead  of  a  Conscious- 
ness. If  it  should  so  happen  that  you  go  to  Hell,  you 
have  no  choice  whether  you  stay  there  or  not,  as  to 
whether  you  roast — and  roast — and  roast,  or  not; 
roast  you  must.  As  you  are  being  taught  that  Reason 
is  apt  to  lead  you  to  Hell  and  not  to  Heaven,  you 
perhaps  may  take  your  Reason  with  you,  and  if  so, 
you  will  be  able  to  spend  your  time  in  working  out 
the  problem  of  how  you  got  there  and  why,  and  in 
cursing  either  yourself  or  the  Almighty,  or  both,  for 
having  been  born  a  Reasonable  creature  who  was 
given  but  few  moments  on  earth  to  make  a  final  deci- 
sion, without  sufficient  experience  or  evidence  prop- 
erly to  decide  whether  you  were  predestined  to  be 
damned,  or  to  be  damned  because  you  didn't  know 
enough  to  escape  damnation.  These  are  not  alluring 
pictures,  but  Theology  has  nothing  better  to  offer,  and 
we  must  confess  that  the  first  one  is  no  more  inviting 
than  the  other  is  terrifying  to  those  whose  Reason 
finds  them  both  impossible. 

Revivalists  tell  us  that  "now  is  the  accepted  time" 
to  make  a  decision  as  to  "where  we  shall  spend  Eter- 
nity"— that  the  decision  must  be  final.  If  this  decision 
is  to  be  a  general  one  as  to  whether  we  are  to  be  or 
not  to  be  on  the  side  of  Right,  revivalists  are  wast- 
ing their  time,  for  the  Infinite  has  made  the  decision 
that  everything  must  be  guided  by  Rightness.  It  is 


228  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

the  Infinite  Law,  Irrevocable,  Unchangeable,  Irre- 
sistible. All  Unreasoning  Nature,  working  out  the 
purposes  of  its  Consciousness,  does  RIGHT  automati- 
cally. Reasoning  Nature  is  forced  to  decide,  at  the 
instant  of  Conscious  action,  that  for  IT  the  action  is 
RIGHT,  or  it  cannot  act.  So  by  force  of  the  Infinite 
Law  we  are  all  on  the  side  of  Right.  Reasoning 
Nature,  however,  every  time  it  Consciously  acts  must 
decide  that  the  action  is  Right,  and  though  it  may  be 
mistaken  in  its  view  of  Rightness  it  is  at  perfect 
liberty  to  choose  again ;  it  is  impossible  for  it  to  make 
an  irrevocable  and  final  decision  in  any  matter,  even 
in  such  a  grave  matter  as  the  salvation  of  the  soul. 
Reason  would  not  be  Reason  if  it  became  set  and  fixed 
by  an  irrevocable  decision.  Reason  is  flexible ;  it  is 
the  Adjusting  Faculty ;  it  is  the  means  by  which  we 
adjust  ourselves  to  our  environment,  or  our  environ- 
ment to  us.  Moreover,  it  is  not  desirable  that  we 
should  do  all  our  deciding  at  once,  on  all  questions  or 
on  any  question,  for  it  would  leave  us  with  nothing  to 
do,  or  in  one  particular  instance  with  nothing  in  that 
regard  to  do.  It  is  obviously  preposterous  to  think  of 
Reason  being  worked  in  this  way.  Your  "day  of 
judgment"  was  the  first  day  you  were  able  to  decide 
upon  something  that  it  was  RIGHT  for  YOU  to  DO 
or  HAVE.  Your  "day  of  judgment"  has  been  every 
day  since  then,  and  will  continue  to  be  every  day  as 


THE:  JUDGMENT  DAY  229 

long  as  you  live  on  this  plane  or  any  other  plane  until 
you  arrive  at  RIGHTNESS.  It  is  a  prospect,  not  of 
terror  but  of  glory,  full  of  the  variety  which  is  the 
only  charm  of  life  Here  and  Now;  great  with  the 
prospect  of  that  rich  Awareness  of  the  thoughts  and 
plans  which  other  spiritual  beings  will  impart  to  you 
as  the  Law  of  Gravity,  or  what  represents  it  in  the 
Spiritual  World,  draws  you  to  your  plane  of  non- 
sensuous  density,  but  permits  you,  by  the  Law  of 
Attraction,  to  assemble  with  your  Kind. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE:  DEVIL  AND  How  TO  CHAIN  HIM — WHY  OUR 

SUBCONSCIOUSNDSS  IS  SLOW  TO  RESPOND  TO  THE)  WlLL 

How  this  dear  old  world  could  have  got  along  with- 
out the  Devil  is  beyond  our  comprehension.  The 
record  of  Things,  back  to  a  point  anterior  to  which  the 
memory  of  Man  runneth  not,  shows  that  the  Devil  has 
either  occupied  the  center  of  the  stage  at  all  human 
performances  or  has  kept  the  human  race  busy  dodg- 
ing His  lures.  Descriptions  of  His  origin,  begun  in 
Mythology  and  continued  in  Theology,  furnish  no 
satisfactory  information  as  to  where  or  why  He  was 
born.  In  a  vaguely  general  way  we  are  given  to  un- 
derstand that  He  is  a  Heavenly  Backslider  who  turned 
bandit  or  revolutionist,  or  something  of  that  sort,  and 
sought  to  put  God  out  of  business.  If  even  a  por- 
tion of  what  is  said  of  Him  is  true  He  has  kept  the 
Almighty  busy  in  holding  His  throne  and  supremacy 
against  the  onslaughts  of  Satan  and  His  cohorts. 
Omnipresent,  "almost"  Omnipotent,  very  "nearly" 
Omniscient,  it  is  prophesied  that  the  traditional  Devil 
will  some  of  these  days  be  captured  and  put  in  chains 
for  a  thousand  years,  though  it  is  hard  to  conceive  of 


THE  DEVIL  AND  How  TO  CHAIN  HIM       231 

an  Omnipresent  Satan,  who  is  everywhere,  and  al- 
ways, tempting  everybody  at  the  same  time,  being  so 
materialized  as  to  be  held  by  chains.  Who  is  going 
to  do  this,  or  how,  we  are  not  told,  but  are  led  to 
understand  that  the  Almighty  will  at  last,  goaded  to 
fury  by  the  outrageous  conduct  of  His  rival,  make  a 
desperate  sortie  from  Heaven  and  "get"  Him.  When 
this  takes  place  what  will  the  world  do  without  Him  ? 
Whom  shall  we  have  to  blame  when  we  go  wrong? 
Or  will  it  be  possible  for  us  to  go  wrong  if  the  Devil 
is  chained  in  the  caverns  of  Hell  or  to  the  gate-post 
of  the  City  Made  Without  Hands?  If  it  is  He  who 
has  been  leading  us  astray,  the  cessation  of  His  activi- 
ties will  remove  from  us  all  inclination  towards 
wrong-doing  and  we  will  become  automatically  right 
like  other  animals  and  all  Unreasoning  Life.  Reason 
is  that  which  enables  us  to  choose  between  Right  and 
Wrong,  and  if  Wrong  is  so  securely  chained  as  prac- 
tically to  put  it  out  of  existence  Reason  will  be  left 
without  an  office,  purposeless,  and,  like  all  unused 
faculties,  the  machinery  for  expressing  Reason  will 
become  atrophied  and  disappear.  This,  of  course,  is 
on  the  presumption  that  Reason  is  merely  a  physical 
faculty,  not  the  Elemental,  Indestructible  Conscious- 
ness which  distinguishes  Man  from  other  Animal  Life. 
At  the  end  of  the  thousand  years,  if  the  Devil  is  let 
loose  again,  Man,  with  atrophied  Reasoning  machinery 


232  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE; 

— if  such  a  thing  be  possible — will  be  an  easy  victim  to 
His  machinations.  Reason,  which  of  all  things  needs 
to  be  constantly  exercised  to  keep  its  expressional 
machinery  from  degenerating,  rusting,  becoming  atro- 
phied, would  by  involution  disappear,  and  even  the 
Devil  would  lose  His  interest  in  going  about  as  a 
roaring  lion  when  all  humanity  would  be  under  His 
paw  and  as  easy  a  prey  as  Adam  was  said  to  have 
been  when  the  Devil  got  him  before  he  was  endowed 
with  Reason  and  knew  that  his  taste  for  apples  was  to 
cause  so  much  trouble  to  the  human  race. 

Why  the  Devil  came  into  existence,  when  the  Infinite 
could  have  prevented  it — and  there  cannot  be  two  Infi- 
nites, God  and  the  Devil — is  by  no  one  explained. 
We  are  led  to  believe  that  in  some  way  He  was  a 
necessity,  either  to  give  a  grimy  background  to  the 
Glory  of  God  or  to  work  out  the  purposes  of  the 
Infinite.  Surely  the  Infinite  needs  no  background,  and 
can  have  none,  being  IT  all  and  EVERYWHERE. 
If  Satan,  then,  came  into  existence  to  work  out  the 
will  of  the  Most  High,  what  was  the  purpose  ?  Obvi- 
ously it  was  to  make  Man  possible,  for  Man  would  not 
be  possible,  he  being  the  EXPRESSION  of  REA- 
SON, if  he  had  no  opportunity  to  use  his  endowment 
in  a  choice  between  Good  and  Evil.  Was  it  necessary 
or  possible  to  have  a  PERSONAL  DEVIL?  If  Man 
could  have  liad  individuality  and  perfection  from  the 


THE:  DEVIL  AND  How  TO  CHAIN  HIM       233 

beginning,  doubtless  the  Infinitely  Wise  and  Loving 
would  have  made  him  so  and  kept  the  Devil  off  the 
scene.  But  Man  was  obviously  intended  to  develop  as 
he  has  developed,  and  it  is  inconceivable  that  Law- 
lessness, embodied  as  Satan,  should  be  permitted  to 
use  His  cunning  to  trap  unwary  victims.  The  princi- 
ple of  NON-RIGHTNESS,  the  negative  of  RIGHT- 
NESS,  was  necessary,  that  Man,  by  choosing  the 
latter  more  and  more  frequently  than  the  former, 
might  ultimately  arrive  at  REASON  MADE  POSI- 
TIVE BY  RIGHTNESS.  Man's  condition  to-day 
represents  the  results  not  only  of  the  decisions  he  has 
made,  but  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  the  decisions  his 
progenitors  made.  In  this  way  he  has  not  only  his 
own  experience,  but  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  the 
cumulative  experience  of  his  ancestors  to  guide  him. 
He  shows  this  by  walking  upright  instead  of  on  all 
fours,  by  eating  meat  as  well  as  vegetables,  by  the 
color  of  his  skin,  by  the  absence  of  a  hairy  covering 
to  his  body,  and  in  many  other  ways.  Reason  has  not 
only  developed  apace  with  his  animal  progression,  but 
has  gone  far  ahead  of  it  while  influencing  him.  His 
SUBCONSCIOUSNESS,  his  Memory  Life,  is  a  com- 
plete storehouse  of  not  only  what  has  happened  to 
him,  but  to  all  who  preceded  him  in  the  line  of  his 
Kind.  He  is  the  reincarnation  of  his  ancestors.  He 
may  show  the  traits  of  character  or  the  peculiarities  in 


234  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

appearance  of  one  more  than  of  all  the  others  put 
together,  but  they  are  all  there.  He  is  not  Conscious 
of  this,  but  he  is  Subconscious  of  it.  He  is  not  Con- 
scious of  the  millions  of  things  that  his  Subconscious- 
ness  does  for  him  every  day :  the  respiration,  diges- 
tion, circulation  of  the  blood,  distribution  of  the  nerve 
juices,  the  workings  of  his  muscles  and  joints  and 
organs — these  things  are  constantly  being  done  with- 
out his  Consciousness — Reason — being  appealed  to. 
With  almost  undisputed  sway  the  Subconsciousness 
controls  our  animal  life  and  directs  to  a  greater  extent 
than  we  are  aware  our  intellectual  processes.  In 
adapting  our  body — as  is  its  business — to  its  environ- 
ment, our  Subconsciousness  occasionally  finds  some- 
thing which  arouses  its  Memory  force  so  powerfully 
that  it  instantly  adapts  itself  to  a  condition  in  which 
we  were  years  ago,  or  which  our  father  or  grand- 
father, or  great-great-grandfather,  was  in.  This  means 
that  the  environment  of  the  Subconsciousness  is  not 
only  that  of  Now,  but  that  of  Then,  and  were  it  not 
for  Reason  it  would  be  stirred  as  greatly — if  not  to  a 
much  greater  degree — by  the  environment  of  Then  as 
it  is  stirred  by  the  environment  of  Now.  This  recru- 
descence, caused  by  the  outcropping  of  Memory  en- 
vironment, may  take  the  form  of  sickness  or  the  im- 
pulse to  some  unusual,  it  may  be  improper  act.  It  is 
the  business  of  Reason  at  this  juncture  to  declare 


THE  DEVIL  AND  How  TO  CHAIN  HIM       235 

itself  as  the  LAW  OF  NOW.  If  it  declares  that 
Rightness  is  the  Law  of  its  Being  and,  holding  this 
thought,  goes  into  the  state  of  mind  of  the  Infinite 
within  it  —  the  Supraconsciousness  —  and  becomes 
merged  in  that  Infinite,  as  it  can  by  asking  that  it  be 
so,  then  the  great  Infinite  Urge  accepts  that  fixed 
point  of  Rightness  in  the  Consciousness  as  the  SET 
POINT  OF  RIGHTNESS  for  the  whole  Being,  and 
Rightness  prevails.  If  Reason,  because  of  ignorance 
or  sluggishness,  does  not  resist  but  accepts  the  recru- 
descence, the  re-opening  of  a  Subconscious  sore,  the 
law  of  Then  prevails  and  the  whole  Being  takes  on 
the  symptoms  and  sufferings,  and  as  a  rule  arrives  at 
the  identical  result  pictured  in  the  Subconscious  mem- 
ory. We  all  know  how  a  perfume,  a  picture,  a  sound, 
will  often  bring  a  rush  of  recollections  filling  us  with 
joy  or  sorrow.  We  physically  feel  the  result  of  this 
rush  of  memories  as  pain  or  pleasure,  thus  showing 
how  intimately  our  Subconsciousness  is  connected  with 
our  physical  expression  and  the  Past.  In  the  same 
way  our  Subconsciousness  is  often  aroused  by  a  sight, 
sound,  smell,  taste,  or  feeling,  to  suggest  to  Reason 
that  it  declare  some  unusual  or  improper  act  to  be 
Right;  for  the  Subconsciousness  knows,  as  we  all 
ought  to  know  by  this  time,  that  what  the  Subcon- 
sciousness cannot  do  without  the  sanction  of  Reason 
must  be  declared  by  Reason  at  the  moment  of  action 


236  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

to  be  Right  or  it  cannot  become  an  act.  In  the 
recrudescence  which  took  the  shape  of  sickness,  fol- 
lowing the  Law 'of  ITS  BEING  the  Subconsciousness 
started  to  function  for  that  sickness  without  appealing 
to  Reason,  and  Reason  had  to  come  in  after  the  fact 
either  to  alter  or  allow  it.  In  the  reversion  of  the 
Subconsciousness,  the  Memory  Life,  to  a  moral  con- 
dition of  Then,  we  see  it  is  forced  to  obtain  the  sanc- 
tion of  Reason  before  it  can  even  begin  to  function 
the  body  into  action.  Its  suggestion  to  Reason  of  the 
wrong  thing  is  all  the  "temptation  of  the  Devil"  there 
ever  was  or  ever  will  be.  To  the  Subconsciousness, 
which  is  the  only  Devil  there  ever  was  or  ever  will 
be,  the  suggestion  was  Right,  not  Wrong.  It  has 
no  so-called  moral  sense;  it  acts  purely  as  an  animal 
thing,  and  purely  according  to  the  code  established  by 
experience.  In  acting  thus  it  follows  the  Infinite 
Urge  to  Rightness  of  its  Kind.  So  the  Devil,  after 
all,  appears  to  be  the  Infinite  itself,  working  our  ani- 
mal nature  according  to  its  Rightness  at  the  same 
time  that  it  is  urging  our  intellectual  side  to  Right- 
ness  of  its  Kind.  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
Subconsciousness  begins  its  abnormal  functioning  in 
physical  matters  before  Reason  has  a  chance  to  De- 
come  alarmed,  but  in  so-called  moral  matters  the 
Reason  has  to  be  appealed  to  before  any  action  can 
be  begun.  This  clearly  demonstrates  that  which  has 


DEVIL  AND  How  TO  CHAIN  HIM       237 

already  been  stated,  that  as  the  Infinite  censors  all 
changes  of  one  state  of  mind  into  another  state  of 
mind  in  Unreasoning  Life  before  the  change  can  take 
place,  so  Reason  must  censor  and  permit  every  Con- 
scious change  of  one  state  of  mind  into  another  state 
of  mind  in  Reasoning  Life  before  the  action  involved 
in  this  can  take  place.  It  is  thus  the  traditional  Devil 
disappears  into  nothing  more  serious  than  an  oppor- 
tunity for  adjustment  of  the  Rightness  of  our  Animal 
nature  to  the  Rightness  of  our  Intellectual,  our  Spir- 
itual nature.  It  cannot  be  otherwise,  and  Reason 
must  do  the  adjusting,  and  do  it  in  accordance  with 
what  it  decides  at  the  moment  of  Conscious  action  to 
be  Right. 

Let  us  breathe  a  sigh  of  relief!  We  have  located 
the  Devil  and  begin  to  see  a  way  of  doing  all  the 
"chaining"  that  is  needed.  This  "chaining"  consists 
entirely  of  our  control  by  Reason  of  our  Unreasoning 
but  Powerful  Subconsciousness — of  our  mastery  of 
our  Animal  Nature.  The  law  of  the  Subconscious- 
ness  is  what  Paul  meant  when  he  said,  "I  see  another 
law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law  of  my 
mind  (intellect)  and  bringing  me  into  captivity  to 
the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  members."  And  it  is 
significant  that  Paul  had  not  yet  Theologized  the 
Christ  Principle  to  the  extent  of  calling  this  "law" 
Satan.  That  he  cried,  "O  wretched  man  that  I  am !" 


238  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

as  we  all  do  when  we  find  that  we  cannot  immedi- 
ately control  our  Subconsciousness,  was  due  to  the 
conviction  that  he  had  laid  hold  of  a  Principle  that 
should  instantly  do  this  and  his  disappointment  in 
finding  that  it  did  not  work  as  promptly  as  he  be- 
lieved it  should.  Why  should  we  hope  instantly  to 
change  the  direction  of  our  Subconsciousness  if  we 
realize  that  this  law  of  our  Animal  Being  has  been 
for  centuries  of  generations,  guided  by  the  Infinite 
Urge,  building  up  a  masterful  experience  of  what  it  is 
best  for  us  as  Animals  to  do?  If  it  were  made  possi- 
ble for  us  instantly  to  change  the  direction  of  our 
Subconsciousness  we  would  very  soon  ruin  our  Habit 
Life,  and  our  perfection  as  Animals  would  disappear. 
It  has  already  been  seen  that  Reason  does  not  always 
decide  rightly,  that  it,  as  censor,  often  passes  as  Right- 
ness  that  which  is  a  mere  whim  or  excuse.  In  noth- 
ing is  the  wisdom  of  the  Infinite  more  clearly  shown 
than  in  denying  us  the  power  of  controlling  our 
Animal  Life  by  mere  whims  and  fancies ;  by  Reason 
NOT  made  POSITIVE  in  its  RIGHTNESS.  The 
incentive  rendered  necessary,  of  application — continu- 
ous effort  to  form  a  habit — would  be  removed  if  we 
could  force  our  bodies  instantly  to  conform  to  our 
whims.  For  instance,  you  might  take  a  notion  to  be 
a  pianist,  and  if  you  could  force  your  Subconscious- 
ness  at  once  to  function  your  fingers  into  skilfully 


THE:  DEVIL  AND  How  TO  CHAIN  HIM       239 

handling  the  keys  of  a  piano  you  would  instantly 
obtain  that  which  now  requires  years  of  practice  to 
acquire.  This  would  mean  nothing  to  you,  for  every- 
one could  do  the  same,  or  at  least  to  that  extent  that 
they  were  appreciative  of  music.  This  is  not  in  har- 
mony with  the  law  of  Progress ;  it  does  not  conform 
to  that  continual  grind  we  see  Everywhere,  in  Every- 
thing, that  perfection  may  be  reached.  It  would  upset 
Habit  Life — the  Subconsciousness — which  would  no 
longer  be  repetitional  in  its  workings,  but  await  the 
whims  of  Reason.  Thus  we  would  be  left  to  reason 
each  time  we  desired  to  breathe,  or  digest,  or  function 
in  any  of  the  innumerable  ways  now  carried  on  Sub- 
consciously, habitually. 

That  it  is  easier  to  change  our  moral  than  our 
physical  condition,  i.  e.,  it  is  easier  to  regulate  our 
intellectual  processes  than  our  bodily  processes,  must 
be  apparent,  insomuch  as  the  processes  of  the  Subcon- 
scious are  carried  on  until  interrupted  by  Reason, 
while  intellectual  processes  cannot  develop  into  action 
until  permitted  by  Reason  declaring  them  to  be  Right. 
Thus  bodily  sickness  may  have  an  apparently  firm 
grip  upon  us  before  we  are  aware  of  its  seriousness, 
and  Reason  comes  into  action,  either  by  declaring 
Rightness  to  prevail  or  sending  for  a  physician  that 
he  may  cause  it  to  prevail.  As  has  been  pointed  out, 
Reason  is  thus  called  into  action  "before"  the  fact  in 


240  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

moral  matters  and  "after"  the  fact  in  physical  dis- 
turbances. It  cannot  be  wondered,  then,  that  Paul 
found  it  easier  to  declare  his  spiritual  (intellectual) 
Rightness  than  to  force  his  body  to  conform  to  this 
Rightness.  That  we  can  control  our  Animal  Nature 
must  be  taken  for  granted,  or  our  responsibility  for 
yielding  to  our  lower  instinct  must  cease.  Paul  did 
not  find  this  control,  even  though  he  describes  him- 
self as  having  been  "converted"  by  what  is  regarded 
as  a  "miracle."  It  is  evident  that  Paul's  conversion 
left  him  just  as  other  men  are,  in  perpetual  conflict 
with  his  lower  nature  and  with  nothing  to  overcome 
it  except  Reason.  It  has  been  shown  that  even  by 
Reason  we  cannot  always  instantly  overcome  it,  for 
the  thing  that  we  are  trying  to  overcome  may  have 
become  so  firmly  fixed  as  a  habit  as  to  deserve  well 
the  name  of  "second  nature." 

Let  us  now  examine  the  equipment  we  have  for 
overcoming  that  which  in  our  Subconsciousness  our 
Reason  has  decided  to  be  abnormal.  We  have  seen 
that  to  establish  a  habit — i.  e.,  to  induce  the  Subcon- 
sciousness to  take  some  new  direction,  as  in  skilfully 
playing  the  piano — we  must  firmly  settle  upon  the 
course  to  be  pursued  and  patiently  practice  towards 
the  desired  end.  In  eliminating  the  abnormal  from 
the  Subconsciousness  we  must  conform  to  its  law  as 
faithfully  as  when  we  desire  it  to  do  something  new ; 


THE:  DEVIL  AND  How  TO  CHAIN  HIM       241 

we  cannot  force  it.  The  Reasoning  Consciousness 
has  no  more  right  to  force  the  Functioning  Conscious- 
ness than  the  Functioning  Consciousness  has  to  force 
the  Reasoning  Consciousness.  Each  is  governed  by 
its  own  law,  and  both  by  the  Infinite  Law  of  Right- 
ness  which  inhibits  the  intrusion  of  one  Consciousness 
upon  another.  If,  then,  one  Consciousness  be  not  per- 
mitted to  intrude  upon  another,  how  can  Reason 
affect  the  Subconsciousness  ?  The  law  of  the  Subcon- 
sciousness  makes  it  superlatively  open  to  Suggestion; 
otherwise  it  could  not  become,  as  it  is,  a  storehouse 
of  cumulative  experience  with  any  advantage  to  itself. 
Every  experience  has  been  a  Suggestion  to  it,  and  the 
memory  of  that  experience  is  a  Suggestion  to  it  still. 
It  is  worked  by  the  recurrence,  forcibly  or  otherwise, 
of  the  Suggestions  provided  by  this  experience.  We 
obtain  a  foothold  in  the  Subconsciousness  for  a  new 
thing,  such  as  piano-playing,  by  almost  innumerable 
repetitions  of  movements  of  our  fingers  upon  the  keys. 
After  sufficient  practice  these  movements  of  our  fin- 
gers become  a  Subconscious  Habit,  which  through 
continued  practice  becomes  more  thoroughly  estab- 
lished and  we  become  more  thoroughly  skilled.  This 
is  the  establishment  of  the  new  thing  by  repeated 
Suggestion.  Then  to  eliminate  the  abnormal  we  must 
work  by  Suggestion,  as  it  is  the  law  of  the  Subcon- 
sciousness. To  those  of  UvS  who  have  tried  it,  it  is 


242  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

sometimes  a  very  discouraging  process,  but  if  we 
examine  ourselves  we  will  discover  that  nearly  all,  if 
not  all  the  discouragement  has  arisen  because  of  GUI 
ignorance  of  what  to  expect  and  how  to  expect  it  to 
arrive. 

In  the  first  place,  Reason  must  settle  itself  steadily, 
fixedly  as  to  what  it  is  RIGHT  for  us  to  have — nor 
generally,  but  specifically.  Law  does  not  deal  in  gen- 
eralities, but  with  specific  instances.  You  must  defi- 
nitely fix  in  your  mind  what  it  is  you  are  going  after 
and  keep  it  from  being  mixed  with  anything  else. 
This  we  call  "holding  a  thought."  You  must  clearly 
see  that  the  thing  you  are  seeking  is  RIGHT  for 
YOU  to  have.  Do  not  think  about  whether  it  is  right 
for  everyone  to  have  it,  but  concentrate  upon  it  being 
RIGHT  for  YOU  to  have  it.  This  we  call  "fixing 
the  thought,"  i.  e.,  giving  it  a  set  position,  making  it 
the  "Set"  Point  of  Rightness  from  which  your  Sub- 
consciousness  is  to  act  in  that  particular  regard.  To 
be  effective  in  this  respect  you  must  be  clear  in  your 
conformity  to  the  Law  of  Rightness,  the  Infinite, 
Irresistible  Law.  When  you  decide  that  it  is  RIGHT 
for  YOU  to  have  it,  the  "it"  must  be  something 
which  without  equivocation  it  seems  reasonable  for 
you  to  have.  If  it  is  not  so,  Reason  has  not  in  its 
censorship  actually  passed  the  desired  thing  as  Right 
and  you  cannot  expect  it  TO  BE.  In  removing  the 


THE:  DKVIL  AND  How  TO  CHAIN  HIM       243 

abnormal  from  the  Subconsciousness  we  cannot  pro- 
ceed by  negation,  i.  e.,  to  establish  that  the  something 
there  has  no  right  to  be  there.  The  law  of  the  Sub- 
consciousness,  following  the  Infinite  Urge  to  Right- 
ness,  has  placed  it  there,  and  consequently  it  has  a 
right  to  be  there  and  we  waste  our  time  disputing  this 
right.  Let  us  say  that  what  we  desire  to  remove 
from  the  Subconsciousness  is  its  habit  of  functioning 
for  Rheumatism.  Every  time  we  advance  the  subject 
of  Rheumatism  to  the  Subconsciousness  we  strengthen 
its  Memory  Life  of  Rheumatism  and  unintentionally 
fortify  it  in  functioning  for  Rheumatism.  Then  we 
must  leave  the  subject  of  Rheumatism  alone.  The 
thing  we  desire  is  RIGHTNESS  of  functioning. 
Then  this  becomes  our  "set"  thought.  The  Subcon- 
sciousness, however,  has  established  a  Rightness  of  its 
own  and  this  Rightness  has  produced  Rheumatism. 
It  is  quite  true  that  the  Rightness  in  our  Conscious- 
ness— in  our  Reason — points  in  a  different  direction 
from  the  Rightness  of  the  Subconsciousness  in  this 
matter,  but  it  is  not  sufficiently  distinct  to  become 
immediately  effectual.  Then  we  must  find  something 
within  our  Subconsciousness  the  Rightness  of  which 
is  equivalent  to  the  Rightness  we  desire.  This  can 
be  done  by  arousing  the  Memory  Life  to  the  Right- 
ness  of  its  functioning  on  some  special  occasion  which 
we  can  distinctly  recall.  Every  sufferer  from  Rheu- 


244  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

matism,  unless  afflicted  from  early  childhood,  can 
vividly  picture  some  occasion  upon  which  the  Subcon- 
sciousness  seemed  to  be  working  perfectly.  By  re- 
peatedly recalling  that  occasion  and  that  perfect  func- 
tioning we  can  gradually  make  the  Subconscious  law 
of  THEN  the  law  of  NOW.  You  know  that  when 
you  are  feeling  bad  and  a  friend  comes  in  and  re- 
minds you  in  a  sympathetic  way,  i.  e.,  in  a  way  that 
harmonizes  with  your  Reasoning  processes,  of  what  a 
splendid  time  you  had  had  together  a  week,  a  month, 
a  year,  five  years,  ten  years  ago,  you  feel  better,  and 
to  the  extent  that  you  enter  into  that  thought  of  the 
"splendid  time"  you  continue  to  feel  better.  This  is 
but  the  arousing  in  your  Functional  Life  of  the  func- 
tioning of  that  "splendid  time,"  and  if  your  ailment 
is  not  a  serious  one  it  is  very  likely  that  the  abnormal 
functioning  will  be  entirely  replaced  by  the  function- 
ing excited  by  the  Memory  Life.  Here  is  an  old- 
fashioned  rhyme  illustrative  of  this  point : 

Little   Tommy   Grace 
Had  a  pain  in  his  face, 

So  bad  that  he  couldn't  learn  a  letter, 
When  in  came  Dickie  Long 
Singing  such  a  funny  song, 

That  Tommy  laughed  and  found  his  face  much  better. 

Amongst  breeders  it  is  well  known  that  it  is  easier 
to  revert  to  type — i.  e.,  to  bring  degenerate  specimens 
of  a  certain  class  to  a  higher  degree  of  development 
by  the  infusion  of  a  strain  from  highly  developed 


THE:  DEVIL  AND  How  TO  CHAIN  HIM       245 

specimens  of  that  class — than  it  is  to  improve  those 
same  degenerates  by  infusing  the  strain  of  highly 
developed  specimens  of  another  class,  and  thus  being 
forced  to  create  a  comparatively  new  class.  Thus  it 
is  easier  to  bring  degenerate  Merino  sheep,  in  the 
manner  described,  back  into  being  fine  Merino  wool 
sheep,  than  it  is  by  crossing  them  with  Cotswolds  or 
Southdowns  to  bring  them  up  to  a  high  standard  of 
mutton  sheep.  Thus  in  developing  the  Animal  Life 
the  appeal  to  the  memory  of  the  animal's  Subcon- 
sciousness  is  shown  to  find  a  quick  response.  It  is 
this  principle  that  in  stubborn  cases  makes  it  neces- 
sary to  find  a  responsive  place  in  our  Subconscious- 
ness  before  we  with  marked  success  can  appeal  to 
our  Functional  Life  to  harmonize  with  our  Reason. 
You  will  find  it  valuable  to  remember  this,  for  while 
it  is  by  no  means  the  whole  system  or  only  means  of 
controlling  our  Subconsciousness  it  is  illustrative  of 
its  law  and  will  be  'found  very  effective. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

HEALING — How   TO   MAKE   RIGHTNESS   PREVAIL    EN 
YOUR  PHYSICAL  BEING. 

It  may  have  seemed  a  long  road  that  has  led  up  to 
the  point  of  how  we  can  make  Rightness  prevail  in 
our  Physical  Being,  but  it  has  been  necessary  that  we 
should  understand  the  incalculable  share  of  the  Infi- 
nite in  the  activities  of  all  Expressed  Life.  We  have 
found  ourselves  to  be  Expressions  of  the  Infinite  to  a 
greater  extent  than  was  at  first  conceivable.  By  a 
slow  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  not  too  tedious  process  we 
have  found  that  within  each  one  of  us  there  is  a  full 
equipment  for  his  or  her  Well-Being.  Within  our- 
selves, it  has  been  shown,  each  one  of  us  has  his  own 
God,  his  own  Christ,  his  own  Holy  Spirit,  his  own 
Devil,  his  own  Past,  his  own  Present,  his  own  Future. 
We  see  the  Infinite  filling  each  Consciousness  to  its 
fulness,  thus  being  our  Good,  our  God.  We  see  it 
answering  to  our  call  for  Wisdom,  Rest  and  Right- 
ness,  thus  filling  the  offices  ascribed  to  Christ  and  the 
Holy  Spirit.  We  have  seen  the  workings  of  its  Urge, 
causing  our  Animal  Life  to  appear  as  our  Devil,  our 
Tempter,  while  working  out  the  Infinite  Purpose.  We 


HEALING-RlGHTNESS  IN  YOUR  PHYSICAL  B^ING    247 

have  seen  that  our  Subconsciousness  contains  our 
whole  past,  the  past  of  our  progenitors  from  the  be- 
ginning of  Things,  from  which  we  can  draw  by  means 
of  Memory  to  an  unlimited  extent.  We  have  seen 
that  our  Supraconsciousness — the  Infinite  within  us — 
contains  and  has  always  contained  all  that  the  future 
has  in  store  for  us  until  we  reach  Perfection,  and 
have  found  that  we  can  draw  upon  it  to  an  extent 
limited  only  by  our  Consciousness — our  Reason.  Sit- 
uated as  the  adjuster  between  these  magnificent  store- 
houses of  the  Past  and  of  the  Future,  WE — REA- 
SON— have  the  Glorious  Privilege,  the  Exalted  Op- 
portunity of  drawing  upon  both  to  create  that  NOW 
which  we  desire.  WHAT  WE  DESIRE  is  alike  in 
all  of  us.  As  to  Health,  we  are  not  seeking  for  more 
than  to  be  Well.  As  to  Wealth,  we  desire  no  more 
than  Plenty.  As  to  Happiness,  what  we  all  desire  is 
to  be  free  from  Sorrow  and  Care.  Wherein  we  differ 
is  in  the  Measurement  of  these  blessings.  Each  Con- 
sciousness demands  its  Own ;  it  is  the  law  of  Egoism. 
No  common  standard  can  be  invented,  for  no  two 
things  are  alike.  To  force  everything  to  be  metred 
in  one  bushel  measure — were  it  possible,  which  it  is 
not — would  reduce  everything  to  a  dead  level  and 
defeat  the  purpose  of  the  Infinite.  Each  Conscious- 
ness must,  then,  decide  what  it  is  Right  for  IT  to 
have,  and  upon  the  POSITIVE  RIGHTNESS  of  its 


248  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

decision  depends  its  possession  or  lack  of  Health, 
Prosperity  and  Happiness.  We  cannot  consciously 
act  until  our  Reason  at  the  moment  of  action  decides 
the  action  to  be  Right,  but  the  excuse,  the  whim,  the 
pretense  with  which  the  Reason  sometimes  tricks  it- 
self or  is  tricked  into  a  sense  of  Rightness  sufficient 
to  permit  action,  while  often  contributing  to  discom- 
fiture or  disaster,  never  brings  permanent  good.  If 
we  are  convinced  that  Reason,  being  the  next  greatest 
thing  to  the  Infinite,  can  bring  all  good  things  to  US, 
we  must  make  our  REASON  POSITIVE  IN  ITS 
RIGHTNESS  before  we  can  hope  for  results.  It  is 
a  lamentable  fact  that  Reason  is  habitually  employed 
by  the  majority  of  Reasoning  Beings  to  bring  into 
effectual  action  the  desires  of  their  Animal  Natuix 
by  trumpery  decisions  of  Rightness.  Degrading  itself 
from  the  high  office  which  the  Infinite  intends  it  to 
occupy,  Reason  for  a  time  becomes  the  strumpet  of 
the  Subconsciousness.  What  a  ghastly  thought ! 
That  which  is  separated  from  equality  with  the  Infi- 
nite only  by  its  Consciousness,  becoming  the  prosti- 
tute of  Animal  desires,  is  a  sight  of  ourselves  from 
which  we  shrink.  But  we  must  not  shrink.  The 
picture  is  repulsive,  but  so  true  to  Nature  that  it 
needs  no  further  elaboration.  We  alone  are  respon- 
sible for  this  degraded  condition  of  things.  Not  only 
individually,  but  collectively,  we  contribute  to  the  con- 


HEALING-RlGHTNESS  IN  YOUR  PHYSICAL  B^ING    249 

tinuance  of  this  condition  of  things.  As  Religionists 
we  have  throttled  Reason  while  we  have  built  up  a 
Theocracy,  and  as  Reason  had  so  little  share  in  shap- 
ing it  Reason  does  not  accept  it,  and  to  a  greater 
extent  than  any  of  us  appreciate  refuses  to  be  con- 
trolled or  even  influenced  by  it.  While  and  where  it 
appears  to  accept  it,  its  acceptance  is  not  POSITIVE 
IN  ITS  RIGHTNESS;  it  is  but  an  excuse  that  it  is 
better  than  nothing.  In  their  mistaken  zeal  for 
Rightness,  Religionists  have  sought  their  Supracon- 
sciousnesses  for  Warmth  instead  of  Light,  for  En- 
thusiasm instead  of  Wisdom ;  and  while  from  their 
Subconsciousnesses  they  have  produced  the  picture  of 
a  God  too  human,  too  material  to  be  accepted  by 
Reason,  they  have  enhaloed  it  with  spiritual  charac- 
teristics so  unlike  the  spiritual  characteristics  of  our- 
selves that  on  this  ground,  too,  Reason  rejects  it,  and 
we  are  practically  left  without  a  workable  or  con- 
trolling Ideal  of  Good.  Science,  on  the  other  hand, 
through  the  practice  of  caution  in  researches,  has  be- 
come over-cautious  and  has  refused  to  give  a  place 
in  its  equations  to  anything  that  cannot  be  Sensed.  It 
has  been  shown  that  in  innumerable  ways  we  all 
recognize  as  true  things  which  cannot  be  Sensed  but 
which  influence  our  Reason  Supraconsciously.  In  this 
way  Science  has  left  us  without  an  ideal  of  Infinity  to 
influence  or  control  us,  and  both  theologically  and 


250  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

scientifically  we  have  found  ourselves  unable  to  arrive 
at  POSITIVE  RIGHTNESS.  By  insisting  upon 
ourselves  being  candid  arid  exact  we  can  always  know 
whether  we  are  trying  to  trick  our  Reason  into  a 
momentary  consent  to  some  folly  or  using  it  legiti- 
mately to  perfect  our  conduct.  We  must  use  it  with 
the  same  scrupulous  care  that  we  use  electricity, 
potent  drugs,  and  the  little  competence  we  have  saved 
to  make  comfortable  our  old  age.  As  we  cannot  be 
reckless  or  jocular  with  any  of  these  things,  we  can- 
not be  so  in  using  our  Reason.  This  is  not  a  philo- 
sophy precluding  jocularity  and  freedom  from  care. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  only  philosophy  which  will 
give  you  happiness  as  a  permanent  asset  and  perfect 
security  from  carking  care.  We  do  not  need  to  spend 
our  lives  watching  like  a  cat  at  a  mouse-hole  fearing 
lest  our  Subconsciousness  will  slip  out  and  get  away 
with  us.  The  less  we  tamper  with  our  Subconscious- 
ness,  with  our  Habit  Life,  the  better;  its  habits  are 
mostly  good  and  will  not  be  bettered  by  being  inter- 
fered with  by  Reason.  It  is  when  a  bad  habit 
develops  that  we  must  become  alert  and  strong;  when 
our  Reason  tells  us  that  there  is  an  outcropping  of 
some  trait,  some  vibration,  some  functionings,  what- 
ever we  may  call  them,  that  indicate  a  reversion  to  a 
lower  type. 


HEALING-RlGHTNSSS  IN  YOUR  PHYSICAL  B^ING    25  1 

Now  let  us  examine  the  methods  we  must  employ. 
These  methods  are  not  given  as  prescriptions,  but  as 
furnishing  an  intelligible  outline  of  how  to  bring  into 
operation  the  laws  whose  workings  are  necessary. 
Let  us  settle  ourselves  down  and  feel  ill  for  a  few 
moments.  The  room  feels  hot  and  stuffy;  let  us  have 
fresh  air,  for  fresh  air,  if  it  is  not  blown  in  upon  us 
with  violence,  is  always  good.  Our  lips  and  throats 
are  dry  and  hot;  let  us  have  a  drink  of  water,  cool 
but  not  immoderately  cold.  The  bed  feels  hot  and 
lumpy;  we  know  it  is  not  so,  for  it  has  been  prepared 
by  a  careful  nurse.  But  we  must  have  Ease.  Where 
shall  we  get  it?  Where  does  all  Expressed  Nature 
find  Rest  and  Ease — Harmony  ?  In  the  Infinite.  How 
shall  we  get  there?  We  are  there.  Let  us  become 
Conscious  of  being  there.  "Oh !"  we  cry,  "we  can  be 
conscious  of  nothing  but  pain."  Steady!  We  can 
become  Conscious  of  changing  our  state  of  mind  into 
the  Infinite  state  of  mind — Rightness — as  readily  as 
we  can  imagine  we  are  being  changed  from  one  room 
into  another.  As  if  you  were  imaging  yourself 
being  moved  from  one  room  into  another,  image  your 
mind  as  changing  from  a  state  of  almost  intolerable 
pain  into  a  state  of  perfect  Rightness.  You  say,  "I 
have  done  this,  but  I  feel  no  change."  Ah !  Your 
Reason  did  not  really  declare  the  change.  You  did 
not  believe  the  change  would  be  made  or  you  would 


252  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

not  so  instantly  deny  that  it  had  been  made.  You 
must  believe  in  your  doctor  or  he  will  do  you  no 
good.  Try  it  again.  Say  to  yourself,  "I  consciously 
change  my  state  of  mind  into  my  Infinite  state  of 
mind — Rightness."  "It  won't  work,"  you  cry  after  a 
few  moments.  What  won't  work?  "Why,  the  cure 
won't  work."  What  do  you  think  is  the  "cure"? 
"The  changing  of  my  state  of  mind  into  the  Infinite 
state  of  mind."  That  is  not  the  "cure."  The  chang- 
ing does  not  cure. 

Now  seems  to  be  the  time  to  take  another  view  of 
Reason.  We  have  found  it  to  be  our  Adjusting,  our 
Guiding  machinery,  but  on  no  occasion  has  it  seemed 
to  be  our  Power  machinery.  It  is  the  steering-wheel 
of  the  car,  not  the  engine.  It  can  compel  or  propel 
nothing.  If  you  are  riding  a  bicycle  you  can  steer  it 
by  the  handle  but  you  cannot  move  it.  You  think 
you  move  it  by  means  of  your  feet  and  legs,  but  you 
do  not.  Your  feet  and  legs  are  as  much  a  part  of  the 
mere  mechanism  of  locomotion  as  the  wheels  and 
chains  beneath  you.  What  is  it,  then,  that  moves  the 
bicycle?  Infinite  Life,  wherein  is  the  essence  of  all 
Power.  You  remember  the  trouble  you  had  in  learn- 
ing to  ride!  At  first  your  handle-bar  was  not  even 
sufficient  to  guide  the  machine.  It  wabbled  all  over 
the  place  and  fell  down,  and  you  with  it.  What  was 
the  matter?  You  were  not  POSITIVE  in  your 


HSALING-RlGHTNESS  IN  YOUR  PHYSICAL  BEING     253 

RIGHTNESS.  You  were  not  POSITIVE  that  you 
could  control  the  machine.  Suddenly  you  rode 
away  quite  steadily — surprised  yourself.  You  learned 
to  swim,  to  walk,  the  same  way.  By  holding  the 
thought  of  learning  to  ride,  swim,  or  walk,  you 
"fixed"  the  Point  of  Rightness,  and  instantly  the 
Power  from  the  Eternal  Stillness  worked  in  you  to 
the  extent  of  your  Consciousness.  For  an  instant 
you  forgot  that  you  were  on  the  machine  or  in  the 
water,  followed  your  instinct  or  the  directions  you 
had  had,  and  away  you  went.  In  that  instant  you 
became  Conscious  of  Power  to  do  so.  Remember, 
when  you  are  seeking  for  Power  from  the  Infinite, 
that  it  will  accept  no  trumpery,  "wabbly"  decision 
from  your  Reason.  At  the  instant  of  action  it  de- 
mands that  you  be  POSITIVE  in  your  RIGHT- 
NESS — not  momentarily,  transiently,  but  fixedly — 
before  it  permits  its  Power  to  act  on  your  physical 
machinery  and  work  your  purpose.  Your  Subcon- 
sciousness  coaxes  your  Reason  when  it  suggests  some 
Conscious  action  that  is  unusual  or  improper,  and 
any  excuse  or  pretense  sufficient  to  release  the  "clutch" 
of  your  Will  is  accepted  as  enough  and  the  Subcon- 
sciousness  bounds  into  action.  Your  Supraconscious- 
ness — the  Infinite  within  you — does  not  work  thus. 
It  KNOWS  when  your  Reason  becomes  "set"  by 
RIGHTNESS,  and  recognizes  nothing  but  this.  We 


254  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

have  seen  the  wisdom  of  the  Infinite  in  refusing  in- 
stant control  of  the  Consciousness  over  the  Subcon- 
sciousness,  as  that  would  upset  the  Habit  Life  of  the 
latter,  thus  destroying  our  bodies,  and  at  the  same 
time  remove  the  necessity  of  protracted  practice  and 
application  for  the  acquirement  of  any  accomplish- 
ment, thus  stopping  our  intellectual  progress.  If  it 
furnished  Power  in  instant  response  to  our  passing 
impulses,  our  varying  whims,  it  would  be  doing  the 
same  thing,  both  as  to  means  and  results. 

In  our  studies  Reason  has  been  extolled  as  never 
before  and  exalted  to  the  highest  pinnacle  upon 
which  it  has  ever  been  placed,  but  we  must  recognize 
its  limitations.  It — Reason — is  by  no  means  the  Infi- 
nite ;  it  is  the  highest  conceivable  Expression  of  the 
Infinite,  but  it  belongs  to  Expressed  Life;  it  is  a 
Thing.  It  has  no  power  of  its  own.  The  Subcon- 
sciousness  is  the  same.  It,  too,  is  a  Thing,  with  no 
power  of  its  own.  They  both  work  the  Will  of  the 
Infinite.  Each  has  a  "set"  Point  of  Rightness  from 
which  to  work.  The  Subconsciousness  works  having 
as  its  "set"  Point  of  Rightness  that  experience  which 
at  the  moment  of  action  is  strongest  in  its  Memory 
Life.  The  Consciousness — the  Reason — works  hav- 
ing as  its  "set"  Point  of  Rightness  that  which  at  the 
moment  of  action  seems  Right  for  it  to  do — Best  for 
it  to  do.  To  arrive  at  this  point  Reason  is  expected 


HEALING-RlGHTNESS  IN  YOUR  PHYSICAL  BEING    255 

not  only  to  find  out  by  searching  its  memory — the 
Subconsciousness — for  light  as  to  what  has  been  best 
for  it  under  similar  circumstances  in  the  past,  but  to 
look  into  its  Supraconsciousness  for  direction  as  to 
what  will  be  Best  for  it  to  do  in  the  light  of  the 
future.  When  it  does  this  to  the  extent  of  its  capacity 
it  becomes  "set"  in  its  Rightness  and  its  decision  is 
accepted  by  the  Infinite,  which  at  once  affords  the 
Power. 

Now,  Mr.  Sick  Man,  do  you  see  where  you  are  f 
You  expected  that  the  change  from  one  state  of  mind 
into  another  state  of  mind  would  bring  you  relief. 
But  it  did  not,  for  the  "change"  does  not  do  it;  it 
only  places  you  where  the  Infinite  will  cause  it  to  be 
done  for  you  if  you  remain  "set"  in  that  state  of 
Rightness  long  enough  to  demonstrate  that  you  know 
why  you  are  there  and  intend  to  stay  there  long 
enough  to  receive  that  which  you  desire. 

Let  us  try  it  again.  You  are  perfectly  relaxed. 
You  have  become  thus  by  the  thought  of  "letting  go" 
everything  in  your  Physical  Being.  Take  three  long, 
deep  breaths  through  your  nostrils — it  is  a  good  thing 
to  give  you  a  momentary  grip  of  yourself.  Say  to 
yourself  slowly  and  firmly:  "I  consciously  pass  from 
my  present  state  of  mind  into  the  Infinite  state  of 
mind,  into  Rightness.  I  merge  my  Consciousness 


256  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

into  my  Supraconsciousness,  and  I  am  Right.  My 
Consciousness — my  Reason — is  merged  in  my  Supra- 
consciousness, my  Infinite  Rightness.  I  cease  reason- 
ing. I  am  in  Rightness,  where  I  do  not  need  to  rea- 
son. It— is— RIGHT— for— ME— to— have— EASE 
— NOW.  I  am  spiritually  at  ease.  It  is  right  for  me 
to  have  Ease  now.  (Hush,  dear  man,  that  pain 
won't  kill  you.  You  are  looking  into  your  Supracon- 
sciousness now  for  what  is  best  for  your  future. 
Pay  no  attention  to  your  Subconsciousness  and  its 

pain-moanings  of  the  past.)     It — is RIGHT — for 

—ME— to— have— EASE— NOW.  My  Conscious- 
ness is  merged  in  my  Supraconsciousness,  but  my 
thought  of  Ease  dwells  in  my  Supraconsciousness  as 
the  "set"  Point  of  Rightness  for  my  whole  Being. 
RIGHTNESS— Ease— is  manifesting  itself  througo 
my  Being.  I  am  becoming  easier.  Rightness  holds 
the  wheel— the  FATHER  LIFE  is  at  the  helm." 

You  begin  to  feel  easier,  and  the  longer  you  stick 
to  it  the  easier  you  will  feel.  You  may  have  to  hang 
on  to  your  bed-clothes  with  both  hands,  or  clutch  the 
hand  of  your  nurse  or  friend,  but  do  this  as  little  as 
possible.  Remain  relaxed,  SURRENDER  COM- 
PLETELY! "Surrender  what  and  to  whom?"  you 
ask.  Surrender  your  Reason  to  your  Supraconscious- 
ness, to  the  Infinite  within  you,  as  you  do  informally 
every  night  when  you  go  to  sleep.  You  have  rea- 


H£ALING-RlGHTN£SS  IN  YOUR  PHYSICAL  BEING     257 

soned  yourself  up  to  a  Point  of  Rightness  as  to  what 
you  shall  do.  You  have  resolved  to  go  into  Right- 
ness  and  quit  reasoning.  Do  it.  Stick  to  it.  The 
Infinite  will  not  touch  the  wheel  while  you — Reason 
— have  your  hand  on  it.  Simply  hold  the  thought, 
Rightness,  Ease.  If  your  Reason  bumps  in  to  say  that 
it  is  doing  you  no  good,  choke  it  off.  It  is  doing  you 
good.  Reason  in  moments  of  excitement,  pain,  or 
fear,  is  almost  invariably  wrong,  for  in  such  moments 
it  draws  all  its  information  from  the  Subconscious- 
ness,  from  the  source  of  disturbance.  When  you  were 
free  from  pain  you  made  up  your  mind  what  was 
right  for  you  to  do.  Then  your  Reason  was  working 
properly;  you  came  to  a  "set"  Point  of  Rightness. 
Now  demonstrate  that  it  was  "set."  You  cannot  rea- 
son and  recover  at  the  same  time  any  more  than  you 
can  reason  and  remember  at  the  same  time,  or  reason 
and  intelligently  act  at  the  same  time.  You  must  quit 
reasoning,  doubting,  questioning,  and  remain  in  the 
Infinite  Stillness  till  Ease  steals  through  your  Being, 
at  first  almost  imperceptibly,  then  distinctly,  and  then 
you  sleep. 


CHAPTER  XVIII.       . 

HYPNOSIS — AUTO-HYPNOSIS — CONTROL   OF   THE: 
SUBCONSCIOUSNESS. 

We  have  seen  that  Reason  by  means  of  its  "clutch" 
— the  Will — fails  sometimes  completely  to  control  the 
Subconsciousness.  We  will  now  see  that  it  NEVER 
controls  it.  If  we  were  so  constituted  that  our  Reason 
had  any  control  at  any  time  of  our  Subconsciousness 
it  would  be  found  that  it  had  it  always.  If  it  were  a 
safe  thing  for  it  to  have  at  any  time,  it  would  be  at 
all  times.  We  have  seen,  however,  that  it  would  not 
be  a  safe  thing  at  any  time,  as  it  would  upset  our 
Habit  Life,  thereby  wrecking  us  physically  and  intel- 
lectually. Doubtless  you  have  foreseen  this  conclu- 
sion, as  it  is  the  evident  outgrowth  of  the  postulate 
that  no  Consciousness  can  force  its  will  upon  another 
Consciousness,  that  even  the  Infinite  declines  to  do 
this.  We  have  seen,  however,  that  Reason  greatly 
influences  the  Subconsciousness,  which  is  necessarily 
very  susceptible  to  Suggestion ;  otherwise  its  vast 
fund  of  experience  would  not  be  valuable  to  it  as 
Habit  Life.  It  is  the  creature  of  environment,  i.  e., 
subject  to  the  influence  of  that  which  is  contiguous. 


HYPNOSIS — CONTROL  OF  SUBCONSCIOUSNESS    259 

Rheumatic  patients  can  anticipate  the  fall  of  the 
barometer,  a  change  in  the  weather,  consequent  upon 
their  Subconsciousness  functioning  in  accord  with  the 
coming  change  of  pressure.  Every  one  of  our  five 
senses  is  continually  suggesting  to  the  Subconscious- 
ness  ;  Memory  is  continually  suggesting  to  it.  Reason 
when  strongly  developed  furnishes  a  large  and  influ- 
ential share  of  its  environment,  but  it  by  no  means 
controls  it,  as  the  Subconsciousness  by  no  means  con- 
trols Reason.  Experiments  in  hypnosis  probably  occur 
to  the  reader,  in  which  it  has  been  indisputably 
demonstrated  that  hypnotists  can  obtain  control  of 
the  Subconsciousnesses  of  those  who  permit  them- 
selves to  yield  to  the  experimenter.  This  appears  to 
demonstrate  that  the  Consciousness  of  the  hypnotist 
can  completely  control  the  Subconsciousness  of  an- 
other, and  if  of  another,  why  not  of  himself?  Indeed, 
it  has  been  the  ambition  of  hypnotists  to  discover 
auto-hypnosis — i.  e.,  how  each  person  can  obtain  com- 
plete control  of  his  Subconsciousness.  That  this 
would  be  a  distracting  and  dangerous  thing,  utterly 
subversive  of  the  intention  of  the  Infinite,  has  ap- 
parently not  dawned  upon  them.  The  Infinite  does 
not  delegate  any  of  its  elemental  or  absolute  power 
to  any  Consciousness,  thus  preventing  one  Conscious- 
ness from  wrecking  another.  If,  then,  this  be  the  case, 
how  is  it  that  hypnotists  apparently  are  able  to  con- 


260  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

trol  the  Subconsciousnesses  of  those  who  yield  to 
them?  In  the  first  place,  it  is  only  those  who  "yield" 
to  them,  who  consent  to  be  hypnotized  and  manifest 
this  consent  by  volunteering,  coming  forward,  or  in 
some  other  way  mentally  putting  themselves  in  the 
position  of  consenting  parties,  who  can  be  hypnotized. 
"But,"  you  say,  "if  we  consent  to  auto-hypnosis,  to 
our  Reason  controlling  our  Subconsciousness,  is  it 
not  the  same  thing?  And  if  it  is  the  same  thing,  why 
does  it  not  work?"  When  we  consent  to  the  hypnot- 
ist taking  possession  of  our  Subconsciousness  we  ab- 
dicate our  throne  of  Reason — we  give  it  up  to  an- 
other. In  auto-hypnosis  we  cannot  do  this  with  the 
same  ease;  and  though  it  is  possible  to  produce  an 
auto-hypnotic  condition,  there  being  no  Reason  to 
guide  the  Subconsciousness  after  we  have  given  up 
our  own  Reason  to  our  Supraconsciousness  in  order 
to  become  auto-hypnotic  we  can  produce  no  results 
except  falling  into  a  state  of  swoon.  It  may  appear 
to  you  that  we  do  not  have  to  give  up  our  Reason  in 
order  to  obtain  a  condition  of  auto-hypnosis ;  but  it 
is  so. 

After  recovering  from  an  hypnotic  condition  the 
subject  has  no  memory  of  what  transpired  during 
that  condition,  which  proves  that  Memory  Life — the 
Subconsciousness — is  also  alienated  from  its  office  dur- 
ing that  state.  We  know  also  that  we  are  not  Con- 


HYPNOSIS — CONTROL  OF  SUBCONSCIOUSNKSS  261 

scious  of  what  is  transpiring  while  we  are  hypnotic. 
Does  it  not,  then,  appear  that  both  our  Consciousness 
and  our  Subconsciousness  are  temporarily  alienated 
from  their  offices  during  a  condition  of  hypnosis,  in- 
somuch as  one  ceases  to  be  conscious  of  what  is  trans- 
piring and  Memory  Life  has  no  record  of  what 
has  transpired  during  the  condition?  If  by  gazing 
into  a  crystal  or  by  some  other  means  of 
merging  our  Reason  into  our  Supraconsciousness  we 
obtain  a  condition  of  auto-hypnosis,  we  fall  into  a 
state  in  which  we  are  neither  Conscious  nor  Subcon- 
scious, and  are  left  without  either  guiding  or  motive 
power — swoon.  If  we  are  not  discovered  while  in 
this  state  and  no  means  are  taken  to  revive  us,  it 
means  death  if  the  auto-hypnosis  is  complete.  Of 
course  it  is  possible,  where  we  are  but  partially  auto- 
hypnotized,  for  something  in  our  environment  to 
arouse  us  to  a  more  normal  condition,  but  the  experi- 
ment is  certainly  too  dangerous  to  be  tried.  What, 
then,  produces  the  hypnotic  state  from  which  we  can 
be  aroused?  We  know  that  it  is  not  Reason  acting 
directly  upon  the  Subconsciousness,  for  the  Subcon- 
sciousness is  an  Unreasoning  thing,  and  consequently 
is  not  amenable  to  Reason  as  such,  though  it  is  influ- 
enced by  its  repeated  suggestions.  You  never  saw  a 
hypnotist  argue  a  subject  into  an  hypnotic  state.  How 
is  it  done?  Invariably  the  operator  declares  a  cer- 


262  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

tain  condition  of  things  to  exist.  You  are  relaxed 
both  mentally  and  physically,  he  tells  you.  You  are 
not  thinking  about  anything  in  particular,  but  gazing 
steadily,  abstractedly,  at  some  object.  This  puts  you 
in  the  Infinite  state  of  mind — Stillness,  Rest — from 
which  it  is  easy  to  move  you  into  another  state  of 
mind — Hypnosis.  He  tells  you  to  close  your  eyes, 
and  you  do  so;  this  is  the  first  step  towards  being 
hypnotized,  as  you  consent  to  do  as  he  tells  you. 
Then  he  tells  you  that  you  cannot  open  them,  and 
you  cannot.  What  has  been  done?  It  appears  un- 
reasonable to  you  that  you  cannot  open  your  eyes, 
but  you  cannot  "reason"  them  open.  By  training  he 
has  enabled  himself,  by  strong  mentation,  to  "set"  a 
Point  of  Rightness  for  YOU.  Where  does  he  "set" 
this?  Not  in  your  Reason,  for  you  reject  it.  Not 
in  your  Subconsciousness,  for  he  cannot  effectually 
"set"  a  Point  of  Rightness  there  any  more  than  you 
can;  it  creates  its  own  Point  of  Rightness.  There  is 
but  one  other  part  of  your  Ego  in  which  he  can  "set" 
it,  and  that  is  your  Supraconsciousness.  And  it  is 
here  that,  without  knowing  it,  he  operates.  By  abdi- 
cating your  Reason  you  merged  it  into  your  Supra- 
consciousness with  the  "set"  thought  of  being  hypno- 
tized— that  thought  being  uppermost  in  your  mind 
when  you  gave  your  consent,  tacitly  or  otherwise, 
which  was  equivalent  to  your  merging  yourself — 


HYPNOSIS — CONTROL  OF  SUBCONSCIOUSNESS    263 

your  Reason — into  your  Supraconsciousness,  as  in 
sleep.  Without  knowing  why  we  have  very  rightly 
called  this  condition  "asleep."  Now  you  are  practi- 
cally in  an  hypnotic  sleep,  and  the  operator's  Reason 
is  in  charge  of  your  machinery.  He  declares  to  your 
Supraconsciousness  that  it  is  right  for  you  to  con- 
sider yourself  a  cat.  This  mental  declaration,  clear- 
cut,  strong,  he  establishes  as  your  Point  of  Rightness, 
and  your  Supraconsciousness  furnishes  the  Power. 
Your  Subconsciousness,  having  become  alienated  from 
its  office,  as  your  Reason  has,  its  machinery  is  worked 
from  this  Point  of  Rightness  in  the  Supraconscious- 
ness by  it,  and  produces  the  sounds  and  motions  sug- 
gested by  the  hypnotist.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
hypnotism  is  not  Consciousness — Reason — acting  upon 
the  Subconsciousness,  but  upon  the  Supraconscious- 
ness, where  it  establishes  the  "set"  Point  of  Right- 
ness  which  enables  it — an  outside  Reason — to  manipu- 
late the  physical  machinery  of  the  Subconsciousness. 
This,  however,  will  only  work  up  to  the  point  of 
what  the  subject's  Consciousness,  merged  in  the  Su- 
praconsciousness, considers  right.  If  the  hypnotist 
asks  a  strong  teetotaler  who  is  under  his  influence  to 
take  a  drink  of  brandy,  or  supposed  brandy,  the 
whole  relation  is  disturbed,  a  new  Point  of  Rightness 
is  raised  in  the  Supraconsciousness,  the  one  estab- 
lished by  the  hypnotist  is  displaced,  and  the  subject 


264  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

is  widely  awake  with  a  disagreeable  sense  of  some- 
thing wrong  having  been  attempted.  According  to 
the  "setness"  of  the  Point  of  Rightness  which  is  dis- 
turbed by  the  hypnotist,  so  the  disturbance  is — from 
the  mere  refusal  to  obey,  to  waking  up  and  wanting 
to  raise  a  row  without  knowing  just  why. 

We  have  seen  that  the  operations  of  the  human 
organism  can  be  continued  when  both  its  Reasoning 
Consciousness  and  its  Subconsciousness  are  tempor- 
arily alienated  from  their  offices,  i.  e.,  merged  in  the 
Supraconsciousness.  We  now  see  the  Supraconscious- 
ness  managing  things  alone  as  far  as  the  Ego  is  con- 
stituted, such  Reason  as  gives  direction  to  the  body 
coming  from  the  outside  through  it — the  Supracon- 
sciousness. This  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  Supracon- 
sciousness as  the  entire  Power  machinery,  working  in- 
dependently of  both  the  Reasoning  and  Functioning 
direction  of  the  Ego.  The  functioning  of  the  body 
goes  on  as  usual,  impelled  by  the  Urge  to  Rightness, 
but  ceasing  to  store  for  future  reference  the  experi- 
ence it  is  undergoing.  Why  does  it  not  put  this  ex- 
perience in  its  collection?  It  is  unconscious  of  it,  as  it 
is  being  worked  from  a  "set"  Point  of  Rightness  in  the 
Supraconsciousness,  not  on  its  own  account,  and  what 
is  happening  to  it  is  really  not  a  part  of  its  experi- 
ence. This  is  suggestive  of  the  part  the  Subcon- 
sciousness plays  whenever  the  Supraconsciousness 


HYPNOSIS — CONTROL  OF  SUBCONSCIOUSNESS    265 

contains  a  "set"  Point  of  Rightness  and  causes  Power 
to  be  released  in  accordance  with  that  "set"  Point  of 
Rightness.  Before  we  proceed  with  this,  however,  it 
is  well  to  take  one  more  look  at  the  state  of  existence 
produced  by  Hypnosis.  We  have  seen  that  Reason, 
which  adjusts  our  intellectual  Being  to  its  environ- 
ment, goes  into  the  Supraconsciousness — the  Infinite 
within  us — and  ceases  for  the  time  being  to  perform 
its  office.  Moreover,  the  Subconsciousness,  which  ad- 
justs our  physical  Being  to  its  environment,  goes  into 
the  Supraconsciousness,  leaving  that  Force  to  manage 
its  machinery.  Both  emerge  from  this  unimpaired, 
each  taking  up  its  duties  exactly  where  it  left  off. 
How  has  the  physical  machinery,  used  to  express 
these  Consciousnesses,  fared?  After  a  subject  has  been 
hypnotized  it  is  known  to  be  easy  to  repeat  the  pro- 
cess, therefore  it  must  be  that  the  "clutch"  of  the  Rea- 
son— the  Will — or  rather  that  which  physically  ex- 
presses it,  is  somewhat  weakened.  Throughout  the 
period  of  hypnosis  the  machinery  of  the  Subconscious- 
ness  works  exactly  in  its  relation  to  its  physical  en- 
vironment as  it  was  working  when  the  Subconscious- 
ness  became  merged  in  the  Supraconsciousness — that 
is  to  say,  no  change  is  made  during  the  hypnotic  con- 
dition to  suit  the  physical  environment.  As  this  en- 
vironment is  always  changing,  the  absence  of  the 
regulator  cannot  be  otherwise  than  comparatively 


266  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

harmful.  Running  at  a  set  pace,  the  machinery  must 
run  down  if  the  condition  is  unduly  prolonged.  Such 
results,  however,  as  can  be  found  are  purely  physical 
— ordinarily  a  slight  impairment  of  expression.  Thus 
we  see  that  the  Supraconsciousness  is  the  mainspring 
of  the  eternal  Ego,  the  activities  of  the  Consciousness 
and  the  Subconsciousness  not  being  necessary  to  its 
existence,  but  required  only  to  give  it  individuality 
and  expression  in  relation  to  Time  and  Space.  This 
should  answer  the  question,  "Can  Consciousness  sur- 
vive the  disappearance  of  the  physical  machinery  re- 
quired to  give  it  expression  Here  and  Now?"  We 
have  seen  the  Consciousness  and  the  Subconsciousness 
both  resuming  their  offices  after  a  period  of  suspen- 
sion as  if  nothing  had  happened.  What  happened 
during  hypnosis  was  purely  physical  and  took  place 
without  the  concurrence  of  either.  Does  not  this 
prove  that  they  exist  in  relation  to  the  Supracon- 
sciousness independently  of  any  fleshly  machinery  of 
expression — machinery  which  we  can  understand  as 
only  for  Here  and  Now?  When  we  have  parted 
from  this  machinery  entirely  the  relation  of  the  three 
Consciousnesses  of  the  Ego  to  each  other  will  remain 
unchanged.  These  relations,  of  course,  are  not  those 
that  exist  in  hypnosis,  which  is  a  temporary  state, 
valuable  principally  as  an  experiment  or  an  anaes- 
thetic. The  relation  will  be  that  of  our  normal  con- 


HYPNOSIS — CONTROL  OF  SUBCONSCIOUSNESS    267 

dition,  the  Consciousness  and  the  Subconsciousness 
continually  adjusting  our  Being — our  Individuality — 
to  its  environment  as  our  Supraconsciousness  in  the 
course  of  our  progress  attains  greater  sway.  To  hold 
that  human  life  ends  with  the  final  cessation  of  our 
physical  activities,  one  must  set  in  defiance  the  results 
of  all  psychological  experiments  and  regard  as  un- 
trustworthy all  our  personal  experiences.  Every 
night  in  sleep  we  merge  our  Consciousness  in  our 
Supraconsciousness,  and  awake  in  the  morning  re- 
freshed. We  see  people  lose  their  Reason  for  long 
periods  and  have  it  restored.  We  see  patients  under 
the  influence  of  anaesthetics  unconscious  of  the  pass- 
age of  time  and  insensible  to  pain,  yet  returning  to 
Consciousness  unharmed.  Lastly,  we  have  observed 
the  Supraconsciousness — the  Infinite  in  Man — man- 
aging the  Ego  without  the  aid  of  its  auxiliaries,  but 
guided  by  an  outside  Consciousness  which  has  no 
physical  relation  to  the  Ego.  Could  stronger  proof 
be  required  that  our  physical  bodies  are  nothing  but 
a  mechanical  means  of  expressing  our  spiritual  selves 
in  Time  and  Space,  Here  and  Now? 

To  return  to  the  relation  of  the  Supraconsciousness 
to  the  Subconsciousness,  and  to  the  influence  of  a 
"set"  Point  of  Rightness  in  the  former  upon  the  lat- 
ter, it  is  well  for  us  to  remember  that  both  of  them 
are  Thinking  Consciousnesses,  neither  of  them  cap- 


268  THB  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

able  of  Reasoning.  It  may  seem  unnecessary  so  fre- 
quently to  recur  to  the  difference  between  Reasoning 
and  Thinking,  but  if  you  will  examine  your  own 
habits  of  mentation  you  will  see  that  you  often  con- 
fuse them.  Our  Supraconsciousness,  being  the  Infi- 
nite within  us,  is  always  right  and  does  not,  and  does 
not  need  to,  reason,  and  as  Reasoning  is  an  active 
condition  and  the  Infinite  in  us  is  in  the  condition  of 
Stillness  it  cannot  reason.  Our  Subconsciousness  has 
as  its  "set"  Point  of  Rightness  that  thing  which 
Memory  suggests  at  the  moment  of  action  as  the 
right  thing  to  do.  It  does  not  compare  one  thing 
with  another,  as  it  would  if  it  reasoned,  but  one  thing 
occurs  to  it  to  do,  and  that  is  the  thing  it  does.  This 
is  acting  according  to  the  law  of  Rightness  of  its 
Kind.  We  know  we  cannot  reason  our  Subconscious- 
ness  into  obedience  to  our  will,  though  we  know  we 
can  influence  it  by  repeated  suggestions.  Is  there  any 
means  of  Thinking  our  Subconsciousness  into  action 
such  as  we  desire?  But  thinking  and  acting  have 
been  seen  to  be  practically  the  same  thing — action  in- 
stantly expressing  the  thought.  Then  thinking  our 
Subconsciousness  into  thinking  would  be  like  acting 
it  into  acting — a  confusion  of  terms  leading  nowhere. 

First  let  us  put  Reason  where  it  will  not  interfere 
with  thinking,  for  we  cannot  think  and  reason  at  the 
same  time.  We  have  decided  that  we  desire  to  be 


HYPNOSIS — CONTROL  OF  SUBCONSCIOUSNESS    269 

well.  We  will  put  it  in  a  different  shape.  We  have 
reasoned  that  we  are  spiritually  perfect,  perfectly 
well.  With  the  Infinite  everything  is  in  the  present 
tense — NOW.  Our  Reason  is  the  law  of  NOW,  and 
when  we  emphatically  desire  to  be  well  we  take  the 
spiritual  standpoint  and  declare  we  are  well  NOW. 
With  this  declaration,  absolutely  true  in  the  spiritual 
sense — and  we  are  operating  on  the  spiritual  plane  to 
obtain  results  on  the  physical  plane — we  merge  our 
Reason  into  our  Supraconsciousness,  into  Rightness ; 
we  become  POSITIVE  IN  OUR  RIGHTNESS, 
and  Reason  has  nothing  more  to  do  with  it.  We 
have  closed  the  door,  with  Reason  shut  up  with 
Rightness;  it  is  the  "set"  Point  of  Rightness,  ema- 
nating as  its  Urge  within  Rightness,  "I  am  Well.  I 
am  Right."  Now  we  have  the  two  thinking  activities 
of  the  Ego  face  to  face ;  the  Ego  is  thinking,  not  rea- 
soning, and  what  is  the  thought  ?  " I  am  Well.  I  am 
Right."  The  Subconsciousness,  however,  is  thinking 
its  Wellness,  its  Rightness,  from  its  own  standpoint, 
and  is  functioning  for  rheumatism,  that  being  at  the 
moment  its  strongest  suggestion.  We  go  back  to  our 
original  definition  of  Thinking:  "We  Reason  with 
our  intellectual  faculties,  but  we  THINK  with  our 
whole  Being."  This  is  obviously  true.  When  we  act 
we  act  with  our  whole  Being,  and  thinking  and  act- 
ing are  the  instant  expressions  one  of  the  other,  so 


270  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

we  must  think  with  our  whole  Being.  Thinking  is  a 
creative  Force.  The  Ego  is  thinking;  which  thought 
shall  prevail,  "I  am  Well"  or  "I  am  Rheumatism"? 
Shall  the  thought  contained  in  our  Infinite  Rightness 
fail  to  assert  itself  because  our  Subconsciousness  con- 
tains a  different  "set"  thought  of  Rightness  and  one 
Consciousness  cannot  intrude  upon  another?  What 
is  the  Ego?  It  is  the  expression  of  the  three  Con- 
sciousnesses; IT  IS  THE  HUMAN  CONSCIOUS- 
NESS. Shall  warring  factions  prevent  its  perfection? 
What  is  to  perfect  it?  The  Urge  to  Rightness!  It, 
the  Ego,  is  thinking  Rightness.  The  whole  Being  is 
thinking  Rightness.  The  Supraconsciousness,  guided 
by  the  Urge  of  Reason  merged  within  it,  is  thinking 
Rightness.  The  Supraconsciousness  pervades  the 
Subconsciousness,  and  more  than  anything  else  con- 
stitutes its  environment.  In  obedience  to  its  own  law 
— that  it  act  from  the  strongest  suggestion  present  at 
the  moment  of  action — it  thinks  as  the  Supracon- 
sciousness thinks.  Within  the  Supraconsciousness 
Reason  is  whispering — whispering — whispering,  "I 
am  Well.  I  am  Right."  The  Subconsciousness 
knows  what  this  means,  for  it  is  not  a  fool  thing, 
stubbornly  as  it  may  seem  to  act.  It  remembers  when 
Reason  was  content,  when  it  felt  that  the  Ego  was 
Well,  and  that  condition,  under  pressure  of  the  Urge, 
becomes  its  "set"  Thought  of  Rightness.  And  now 


HYPNOSIS — CONTROL  OF  SUBCONSCIOUSNESS    271 

the  whole  Being  is  thinking — thinking  Rightness.  It 
is  harmonious  in  its  ideal  of  Rightness.  We  hold  the 
thought,  our  energy  is  concentrated  in  thinking, 
creating  Rightness,  and  Rightness  prevails — instantly 
if  we  are  sufficiently  concentrated  and  strong,  gradu- 
ally if  we  have  these  requisites  in  a  less  degree. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  HEALTHY,  HAPPY,  PROSPEROUS  EGO — How  WE 
CAN   AFFECT   OURSELVES   AND  OTHERS 

Let  us  remember  that  the  Infinite  Urge  is  as  strong 
within  us  for  physical  as  for  moral  Rightness,  and 
that  the  effect  of  IT  in  both  respects  is  commensurate 
with  the  Tightness  with  which  we  employ  Reason. 
In  both  cases  Reason  has  to  contend  with  the  Habit 
Life — our  Subconsciousness — built  up  by  centuries  of 
ancestors  of  varying  degrees  of  intellectual  and  physi- 
cal fineness.  As  every  Conscious  action  must  pass 
the  censorship  of  the  Reason  it  is  not  hard  to  see  that 
our  Intellectual  life  is  more  easily  controlled  than  our 
Physical  life,  the  latter  being  carried  on  by  a  Subcon- 
sciousness that  acts  almost  automatically  and  auto- 
cratically, having  seldom  been  restrained  by  Reason 
and  even  less  frequently  directed  by  it.  This  being 
the  case,  disease  and  old  age  seemingly  being  beyond 
our  control,  things  physical  have  been  let  go  very 
much  their  own  way,  and  we  cannot  expect  suddenly 
to  assert  our  Reasoning  selves  in  the  functioning  of 
the  body  with  complete  success.  "Complete  success" 
would  mean  an  assertion  of  Reason  to  the  extent  of 


THE  HEALTHY,  HAPPY,  PROSPEROUS  EGO     273 

living  as  long  as  we  desired  in  the  possession  of  un- 
impaired health  and  strength.  Longevity  has  already 
been  considerably  increased  by  the  greater  prevalence 
of  enlightened  Reason  in  matters  of  medicine,  sur- 
gery, nursing  and  sanitation.  Within  the  past  few 
years  life  insurance  companies  have  extended  what 
they  call  the  "expectancy  of  life"  in  respect  to  those 
below  the  age  of  twenty,  i.  e.,  amongst  those  who 
have  not  really  arrived  at  the  age  when  their  own 
Reason  is  regarded  as  sufficiently  strong  for  their  self- 
government.  This  would  indicate  that  modern  human 
beings  have  learned  more  about  taking  care  of  the 
health  of  those  dependent  upon  them  than  they  have 
about  taking  care  of  their  own.  We  can  be  abso- 
lutely certain  of  further  extending  this  "expectancy 
of  life"  as  well  as  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  it, 
by  using  our  Reason  in  directing  the  Infinite  power 
within  us  in  controlling  the  Subconsciousness,  and  in 
doing  this  we  will  not  only  be  benefiting  ourselves, 
but  doing  much  for  our  offspring  and  their  descend- 
ants, who  will  come  into  the  world  each  with  a  Sub- 
consciousness  better  prepared  for  Reasonable  direc- 
tion, i.  e.,  more  accustomed  and  more  yielding  to  the 
suggestions  of  Reason.  The  extent  to  which  we  can 
prolong  our  lives  will  depend  largely  on  our  desire  to 
live  and  the  degree  to  which  we  exercise  our  Reason 
for  that  purpose.  Excessive  old  age,  accompanied  as 


274  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE: 

it  usually  is  by  mental  and  physical  decrepitude,  is 
not  desirable,  and  if  this  decrepitude  be  reduced  or 
caused  to  disappear  the  exceedingly  old,  until  very 
old  age  is  general,  would  still  find  themselves  out- 
living the  intellectual  environment  to  which  they  were 
accustomed  and  secretly  longing  to  join  their  friends 
of  the  past  on  the  Other  Side.  These  things  and  the 
general  expectancy  that  people  will  at  any  rate  pass 
away  at  from  threescore  years  and  ten  to  a  hundred 
at  the  outside,  will  for  many  generations  retard  Rea- 
son from  extending  human  life  indefinitely.  How- 
ever, we  should  not  permit  "general  expectancy" — 
the  communal  thought — which  in  its  power  to  affect 
us  is  an  underestimated  force,  to  make  us  realize 
that  we  are  looking  or  feeling  old,  or  that  we  are 
old,  until  we  are  ready  to  admit  that  we  are  ripe. 
If  we  permit  this  we  will  lose  the  vigor  and  freshness 
of  youth  long  before  we  should,  and  almost  insensi- 
bly slide  into  a  senility  which  never  need  be. 

When  we  are  told  we  are  sick,  or  feel  we  are  so, 
we  must  instantly  decide  that  there  is  a  mistake  some- 
where. The  Point  of  Rightness  we  have  established 
is  Wellness,  and  the  mere  suggestion  that  we  are  sick 
startles  the  Infinite  within  us  into  denying  that  it  is  so. 

It  may  appear  to  you  that  when  we  make  such  a 
denial  we  are  lying  to  ourselves,  as  the  symptoms  of 


THE:  HEALTHY,  HAPPY,  PROSPEROUS  EGO     275 

sickness  are  apparent.  For  the  last  time  let  us  en- 
deavor to  become  clear  on  this  point.  We  have  al- 
ready arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  Ego  is  In- 
finite within  its  Consciousness,  and  that  this  Infinity 
is  that  of  the  Thinking,  not  of  the  Reasoning  Mind. 
The  Reasoning  Mind  is  powerless  at  any  time  to  act 
except  as  an  adjuster,  and  until  it  assumes  a  Point 
of  Rightness  the  Thinking,  the  Acting  Mind  does  not 
get  under  way.  When  this  Point  of  Rightness  is 
reached  Reason  must  absolutely  cease  its  conscious 
operations,  or  the  Thinking  Mind  will  act  partially 
and  clumsily  as  one  in  doubt  of  what  to  do.  By 
Reason  we  have  reached  the  point  of  believing  we 
have  the  elements  of  perfection  within  us,  and  we 
must  assume  that  we  are  perfect  NOW,  for  the  In- 
finite recognizes  nothing  but  the  present  tense.  This 
is  obvious,  for  the  Infinite,  the  Thinking,  Acting 
Mind,  can  only  act  NOW;  you  can  only  act  NOW. 
You  may  regret  your  action  of  yesterday,  but  you 
cannot  act  in  yesterday  NOW.  You  may  plan 
what  you  will  do  tomorrow — this  is  reasoning — 
but  you  cannot  act  in  tomorrow  NOW.  There 
is  no  time  in  which  you  can  act  but  NOW.  The 
only  way  to  get  health  is  to  think  it,  act  it,  and 
that  must  be  done  in  the  NOW.  Remember  that 
when  you  are  working  your  mind  to  obtain  health 
you  are  working  your  Infinite  mind  and  must  Think 


276  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

in  the  terms  of  the  Infinite.  To  do  this,  you  must, 
keep  away  from  the  past  and  future  tense  and  ex- 
press yourself  in  the  NOW.  You  are  not  lying  to 
yourself  nor  acting  a  lie;  you  are  simply  expressing 
yourself  Infinitely,  and  Infinitely  you  cannot  be  other- 
wise than  Well.  The  symptoms  that  annoy  you  are 
not  recognized  by  the  Infinite,  because  they  are  of 
mere  Time  and  Space,  Here  and  Now.  When  you 
assume  the  Infinite  you  must  assume  the  same  atti- 
tude towards  these  symptoms ;  they  must  be  mean- 
ingless to  you  even  Here  and  Now.  You  have  passed 
from  your  Reasoning  state  of  mind  into  your  Think- 
ing state  of  mind  and  can  no  longer  accept  any  evi- 
dence with  regard  to  your  Point  of  Rightness;  that 
has  been  settled.  Until  you  become  Conscious  of 
being  in  this  Thinking,  this  un-Reasoning  state,  you 
are  not  endowed  with  power  to  become  what  you 
desire.  This  state  of  mind  is  expressed  by  the  Christ 
Principle,  "Ask  what  ye  will,  believing  that  ye  have 
received  it,  and  it  will  be  given  you."  Asking, 
believing,  receiving,  are  all  Actions.  All  Action  is 
Infinite  in  its  source  of  power.  Infinity  is  all  NOW  : 
Action  is  all  NOW.  Therefore  the  three  things  are 
all  NOW — synchronous — in  the  Infinite  sense  all 
happening  together.  We  must  think  in  this  Infinite 
way  before  we  can  obtain  the  use  of  or  the  effect  01 
the  Innnite  power  at  our  disposal.  Do  you  now  bee 


THE  HEALTHY,  HAPPY,  PROSPEROUS  EGO    277 

the  tremendous  difference  between  Reasoning  and 
Thinking?  If  you  do,  you  have  grasped  the  method 
of  thinking  with  your  Infinite  Self;  of  using  the  In- 
finite power  within  you  to  the  full  extent  of  your 
Consciousness.  Let  us  now  apply  our  knowledge  to 
the  treatment  of  ourselves,  but  do  not  mistake  illus- 
trations for  prescriptions,  for  we  must  all  recognize 
the  fact  that  no  shoe  can  be  made  to  fit  the  bunions 
of  every  foot.  Reason  must  always  adapt  the  prac- 
tice to  the  principle. 

You  wish  to  be  prosperous.  You  settle  on  some 
starting-point  on  the  road  to  prosperity.  What  ap- 
peals to  you  as  your  greatest  need  is  a  certain  kind 
of  employment  or  a  certain  sum  of  money;  settle  in 
your  mind  which  it  is,  what  it  is,  or  if  money,  how 
much.  You  must  be  reasonable  in  what  you  decide 
upon,.i.  e.,  your  Reason  must  settle  to  its  entire  satis- 
faction what  or  how  much  you  have  a  Right  to  ex- 
pect. If  you  need  money,  do  not  say  to  yourself,  "I 
might  just  as  well  ask  for  a  million  as  for  a  thousand 
dollars;  I  am  just  as  likely  to  get  one  as  the  other." 
This  is  unreasonable,  foolish.  If  your  circumstances, 
or  circle  of  acquaintances,  or  capacity,  indicate  that 
it  would  be  Reasonable  for  a  thousand  dollars  to 
come  your  way,  while  it  would  be  Unreasonable  to 
expect  a  million  dollars  to  do  so,  you  cannot  possibly 
hope  to  fix  the  million-dollar  Point  of  Rightness  in 


278  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

your  Consciousness  and  begin  to  Think  that  you  have 
a  million  dollars.  Perhaps  your  Reason  may  sug- 
gest fifty  dollars  as  the  sum,  and  to  go  beyond  this 
would  be  to  fail  in  fixing  a  Point  of  Rightness  in 
your  Reason.  You  may  wish  for  employment  as  a 
private  secretary,  commercial  traveller,  salesman  in  a 
store,  as  a  bricklayer  or  carpenter.  Consider  which 
of  these  things  you  are  best  suited  for;  fix  it  in  your 
Reason  as  a  Point  of  Rightness ;  then  Consciously  go 
into  the  Infinite.  You  may  exclaim,  "This  is  easily 
said,  but  how  is  it  to  be  done?"  Relax  your  body 
and  settle  yourself  in  a  quiet  place,  and  thus,  free 
from  physical  inconveniences  and  other  disturbances, 
close  your  eyes  and  say  to  yourself,  "I  consciously 
go  into  the  Infinite  state  of  mind.  I  become  one  of 
the  Thinking  Expressions  of  the  Universe."  You  can 
do  this  as  easily  as  you  can  think  while  sitting  in  your 
room,  "I  am  going  into  the  bank  to  get  fifty  dollars. 
I  know  it  is  there  for  me  and  will  be  handed  to  me 
when  I  present  my  cheque."  In  this  instance  you  are 
consciously  in  the  bank,  asking,  believing  you  have 
received,  and  receiving,  it  all  happening  at  once  in 
your  mind.  Thus  you  go  into  the  Infinite.  You  have 
quit  reasoning  about  the  amount  as  you  did  before 
you  filled  in  your  cheque  at  the  bank.  You  say  to 
yourself,  "I  have  fifty  dollars."  Repeat  this  with  the 
sense  of  satisfaction  that  you  would  feel  if  you  had  it, 


THE  HEALTHY,  HAPPY,  PROSPEROUS  EGO    279 

because  in  an  Infinite  sense  you  have  it ;  you  have 
voiced  your  faith  that  you  have  it,  and  your  voice  is 
heard  throughout  Infinite  Life;  it  is  whispered  every- 
where in  the  Universal  Mind;  it  is  in  contact  with 
every  Consciousness,  for  the  Universal  Mind  is  Ev- 
erywhere. No  Consciousness  may  make  immediate 
response,  none  that  could  be  expected  to  respond 
being  in  a  receptive  state,  but  the  thought  that  you, 
Jones,  potentially  have  fifty  dollars  now  in  the 
keeping  of  somebody  else  remains  ready  to  slip  into 
some  Consciousness  as  soon  as  it  becomes  receptive. 
Repeated  several  times,  the  call  to  this  receptive  Con- 
sciousness becomes  stronger  and  it  says  to  itself,  "I 
wonder  how  Jones  is  doing?  The  last  I  heard  of 
him  he  was  hard  up.  I  wonder  if  I  could  put  any- 
thing his  way?  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  give  him  fifty 
dollars  for  that  good  turn  he  did  me !  I  will  see  that 
he  gets  it."  Did  you  ever  have  a  thought  like  this? 
If  so,  it  was  the  call  of  some  "Jones"  that  came  to 
you  through  the  Infinite,  for  the  Subconsciousness 
does  not  suggest  that  sort  of  thing  and  nothing  comes 
by  chance.  Now  do  you  see  how  it  works  ?  If  you 
are  an  architect  and  know  someone  is  about  to  build 
a  house  or  a  business  block  it  is  easily  seen  how  you 
can  put  it  in  his  mind  that  you  are  the  man  for  him 
to  employ.  If  you  are  an  artist  you  can  see  how  a 
picture  by  you  can  be  suggested  to  a  probable  pur- 


280  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

chaser.  No  matter  what  you  want,  fix  it  in  your 
mind  as  a  reasonable  proposition,  go  after  it,  and 
you  will  get  it.  It  is  said  that  the  most  thorough- 
going cheat  is  the  man  who  cheats  himself  in  a  game 
of  solitaire ;  it  is  just  as  easy  to  cheat  yourself  with 
regard  to  having  properly  fixed  a  Point  of  Rightness 
as  it  is  to  take  a  peep  at  cards  that  the  rules  of  the 
game  demand  should  remain  hidden.  While  noth- 
ing can  be  done  to  prevent  people  being  dishonest 
with  themselves  if  so  inclined,  it  is  well  that  we 
should  make  the  process  of  fixing  a  Point  of  Right- 
ness  and  making  it  POSITIVE  in  our  Supracon- 
sciousness  so  clear  that  there  can  be  no  misunder- 
standing. 

We  understand  that  the  source  of  all  power  is  the 
Infinite,  which  is  Static — Positive.  As  it  is  Omni- 
present, it  contacts  Expressed  Life — its  Negative — 
Everywhere,  the  urge  of  the  Positive  from  within 
the  Negative,  causing  Motion — Action.  All  Unrea- 
soning Life,  being  continually  in  a  state  of  Right- 
ness,  instantly  responds  to  the  contact  according  to 
the  nature  of  its  Consciousness.  The  Reasoning  Con- 
sciousness contacting  this  Positive  power  cannot 
cause  action  until  it  fixes  at  the  moment  of  action  a 
Point  of  Rightness  for  itself,  i.  e.,  decides  that  it  is 
right  for  IT  to  do  the  thing  intended.  The  instant 
it  has  fixed  this  Point  of  Rightness  its  contact  with 


THE  HEALTHY,  HAPPY,  PROSPEROUS  EGO    281 

the  Positive  becomes  operative  and  power  is  released 
by  the  Positive,  which  enables  the  Reason  to  cause 
action.  Its  only  possible  action,  except  in  digesting 
knowledge  and  deciding  what  is  Right,  is  the  releas- 
ing of  its  "clutch" — the  Will — which  instantly  passes 
the  thought  to  the  Thinking  Mind,  the  distributing 
machinery  of  which  is  the  motor  brain  and  nerves ; 
in  this  way  the  thought  becomes  the  action.  The 
office  of  the  Will  is  to  pass  to  the  motor  department 
the  thought  decided  by  the  Reason  to  be  right,  and 
to  hold  it  steadily  there  until  it  is  told  by  Reason  to 
release  it  and  hold  another  thought.  This  is  all  there 
is  of  "Will  Power;"  it  is  no  more  than  the  "clutch" 
with  which  Treason  makes  its  decisions  operative ;  it 
has  no  power  of  its  own. 

To  illustrate  "fixing  a  Point  of  Rightness,"  we  will 
suppose  that  you  are  extremely  anxious  to  catch  a 
train,  and  glancing  at  your  watch  you  discover  that 
you  have  barely  time  to  do  this  and  must  "make  a 
run"  for  it.  Reason  has  fixed  running  as  a  Point  of 
Rightness,  and  away  you  go.  You  are  doing  some- 
thing unusual,  and  your  Subconsciousness  tells  you 
that  you  are  making  a  mistake,  that  people  are  laugh- 
ing at  your  haste,  that  you  haven't  time  to  catch  the 
train  no  matter  how  fast  you  run,  that  you  are  per- 
spiring so  freely  that  you  will  be  in  a  mess  even  if 
you  do  catch  it,  that  running  will  bring  on  heart 


282  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

trouble,  that  it  isn't  worth  while.  You  have  fixed 
your  Point  of  Rightness  and  refuse  to  be  dissuaded; 
your  Reason  adheres  to  its  Point  of  Rightness;  your 
Will  fixedly  holds  in  your  motor  department  the 
thought  of  running,  and  you  catch  your  train.  On 
the  other  hand,  your  Reason  may  yield  to  fear  of  the 
bodily  harm  you  may  be  bringing  to  yourself,  or  that 
you  have  miscalculated  the  time,  and  it  causes  the 
Will  to  let  go  the  thought  of  running,  you  slacken 
your  pace  to  a  walk,  and  miss  the  train ;  you  did  not 
hold  your  Point  of  Rightness.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  in  the  first  instance  you  held  your  Point  of 
Rightness  and  yet  missed  the  train;  it  was  your 
Point  of  Rightness  to  run,  and  you  ran,  therefore 
there  was  nothing  the  matter  with  your  Point  of 
Rightness,  for  you  ran.  That  you  missed  your  train 
was  caused  by  the  miscalculation  of  your  swiftness 
of  foot  or  of  the  time  at  your  disposal.  To  catch  the 
train  was  not  your  operative  Point  of  Rightness;  if 
it  had  been,  you  would  have  remained  at  home  until 
you  dropped  that  Point  of  Rightness  and  set  a  Point 
of  Rightness  as  to  what  you  must  do  to  catch  the 
train.  Do  not  confuse  the  end  to  be  achieved  with 
the  means  of  reaching  it.  A  desire  to  catch  the 
train  was  the  cause  which  moved  your  Reason  to 
decide  that  you  would  run,  and  you  ran.  Your  Rea- 
son could  not  fix  upon  catching  the  train  as  its  Point 


THE  HEALTHY,  HAPPY,  PROSPEROUS  EGO    283 

of  Rightness  if  it  considered  it  an  impossibility,  any 
more  than  it  could  have  fixed  upon  running  as  a 
Point  of  Rightness  if  you  had  no  legs  with  which  to 
run.  Its  first  Point  of  Rightness  was  to  catch  the 
train;  it  dropped  this  while  it  was  deciding  upon  the 
possibility  of  it.  It  decided  that  you  could  do  so  if 
you  ran,  and  thereupon  it  set  its  operative  Point  of 
Rightness,  which  was  that  you  should  run,  and  you 
ran.  Do  you  see  that  each  Point  of  Rightness  was 
effectual  as  far  as  it  could  go? 

Your  desire  to  regain  health  causes  your  Reason 
to  question  the  possibility  of  doing  so ;  it  decides  that 
it  is  possible ;  it  considers  the  means  of  doing  so ; 
medical  aid  having  failed,  it  decides  upon  using  men- 
tal means  and  studies  every  phase  of  this  system  of 
healing.  It  then  directs  its  Will  not  only  to  contact 
its  Supraconsciousness  with  the  thought  "I  am  well," 
but  to  maintain  this  contact.  The  Supraconsciousness, 
being  the  Infinite  Life  within  us,  is  Positive,  and  the 
conscious  contact  of  the  thought  with  this  Positive 
Life,  so  long  as  it  is  maintained,  excites  the  action 
contained  in  the  thought — the  Positive  acting  upon 
the  Negative  and  producing  the  action  desired  by  the 
latter.  The  Reason  thus,  while _  being  Negative  to 
Infinite  Life,  becomes  Positive  to  everything  else  in 
your  Being,  and  while  receiving  energy  from  the 
Positive  passes  it  out  as  power  to  do  the  thing  it 


284  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

desires.  This  is  becoming  POSITIVE  IN  RIGHT- 
NES'S,  and  can  contain  no  element  of  miscalculation, 
as  Reason  is  dependent  for  results  only  upon  Infinite 
Life,  which  is  always  Right;  all  depends  upon  the 
repetition  and  continuance  of  the  conscious  contact 
of  the  thought  with  the  Infinite  within  you.  To 
cause  your  hands  to  contact  each  other  is  easy;  to 
keep  them  in  contact  requires  concentration  of 
thought;  contacting  your  thought  of  Wellness  with 
Infinite  Life  is  just  as  easy;  maintaining  the  contact 
may  be  a  little  more  difficult,  but  quite  as  possible. 
If  you  desire  to  have  electric  light  in  your  room  you 
touch  the  button  which  causes  the  Positive  and  Nega- 
tive currents  to  act  and  re-act  upon  each  other;  to 
obtain  health  of  body  you  must  cause  your  Negative 
thought  of  Wellness  to  contact  the  Positive  thought, 
Rightness.  The  law  governing  both  operations  is 
the  same,  and  though  the  result  may  not  at  once  be 
seen  in  the  latter  instance  you  may  be  absolutely 
sure  that  the  law  is  working  and  the  Wellness  will 
appear. 

In  making  your  body  Right  never  forget  the  power 
of  Infinite  thought  to  reach  the  point  of  lesion  and 
restore  it  functionally.  In  a  previous  chapter  it  was 
noted  that  that  incalculable  energy  which  projects 
light  from  the  sun  gives  it  a  velocity  of  180,000  miles 
a  second,  yet  the  power  involved  can  be  successfully 


THE:  HEALTHY,  HAPPY,  PROSPEROUS  EGO     285 

and  instantly  resisted  by  a  green  paper  blind  a  six- 
teenth of  an  inch  thick.  This  power  of  resistance 
was  shown  to  be  the  unconquerable  nature  of  the 
"green"  Subconsciousne.ss  of  the  blind,  as  physically 
it  could  no  more  stop  a  stream  of  sunlight  than  a 
paper  pellet  on  the  track  could  derail  an  express 
train.  Your  thought  of  Rightness  which  you  project 
through  your  Being  has  even  a  greater  velocity  and 
power  than  the  stream  of  light  stopped  by  a  blind, 
but  it  can  be  stopped  quite  as  effectually  by  any  Con- 
sciousness or  Subconsciousness  which  has  a  right  to 
resist  it.  Your  only  means  of  effectually  reaching 
your  disturbed  function  is  by  Consciously  going  into 
the  Infinite,  placing  your  fixed  Point  of  Rightness 
there,  becoming  oblivious  to  the  reasonings  and 
clamorings  of  pain,  and  leaving  the  Infinite  Urge  of 
Rightness  to  do  the  work.  "Becoming  oblivious  to 
pain,"  you  say,  "is  easier  said  than  done."  It  is  till 
you  have  tried  it  and  learned  to  fix  the  "clutch"  of 
your  will  so  firmly  in  closing  the  Sense  intakes  of 
your  Reason  that  while  you  are  aware  there  is  pain, 
even  agony,  going  on,  it  has  ceased  to  be  a  part  of 
you ;  a  mere  incident  which  you  cannot  afford  to 
cognize.  This  is  a  necessary  attitude  of  mind  not  at 
all  difficult  to  assume;  you  are  simply  in  the  Infinite 
state  of  mind,  thinking,  not  reasoning,  saying,  "I  am 
Right.  Nothing  can  hurt  me;  do  your  worst!"  It 


286  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

takes  some  fortitude  to  hold  yourself  in  this  state  oir 
mind  if  you  are  attempting  to  banish  an  agony  of 
pain,  but  in  a  few  moments  you  will  settle  down  to 
it  with  ease  which  will  surprise  you.  Even  in  such 
serious  matters  as  cancer,  tuberculosis  and  heart 
trouble  you  can  affect  the  functioning  of  the  diseased 
part,  and  if  this  is  done  systematically  and  continu- 
ously you  will  become  well.  This  work  does  not  pur- 
port to  be  a  "Family  Doctor  Book,"  with  prescrip- 
tions for  every  imaginable  disease,  but  it  presents 
you  with  a  principle  which,  if  applied,  will  be 
effectual  to  the  extent  that  its  application  is  sincere, 
persistent  and  patient.  It  is  a  specific,  and  medicine 
has  no  specifics  upon  which  it  always  relies  except 
in  a  few  simple  instances  such  as  sulphur  for  itch, 
quinine  for  chills  and  fever.  If  medical  specifics  were 
in  existence  they  would  not  be  good  for  you;  you 
would  rely  on  them  instead  of  yourself  and  defeat 
Nature's  plan  by  holding  yourself  helpless  without 
them.  A  mental  specific  has  a  different  effect,  for  its 
use  teaches  you  to  help  yourself;  you  always  have  it 
with  you,  in  you,  but  you  must  learn  to  use  it.  If 
at  first  you  find  it  difficult,  employ  practitioners  versed 
in  the  art  of  helping  others,  but  do  so  always  with 
a  view  of  learning  how  to  treat  yourself.  Practition- 
ers need  not  be  afraid  to  teach  others  what  they 
know  of  mental  healing,  for  a  diffusion  of  knowledge 


THE  HEALTHY,  HAPPY,  PROSPEROUS  EGO     287 

only  extends  the  practice  of  that  of  which  it  is  the 
basis,  and  it  will  be  several  generations  before  the 
human  family  will  have  so  progressed  as  to  be  un- 
needful  of  help  and  instruction  in  this  important 
matter. 

You  may  have  often  laughed  at  "absent  treat- 
ments," i.  e.,  one  mind  influencing  the  health  of  an- 
other though  the  bodies  of  the  two  are  widely  sep- 
arated. If  you  examine  the  subject  you  will  find  it 
perfectly  feasible.  The  mind  desiring  to  affect  an- 
other mind  must  have  the  name  or  description  of  the 
person  to  be  so  affected,  in  its  Consciousness.  By 
uttering  the  name  or  mentally  giving  the  description 
of  the  person  to  be  affected,  while  in  the  Infinite,  the 
operating  mind  instantly  contacts  the  Supraconscious- 
ness  of  the  mind  to  be  operated  upon,  for  the  Supra- 
consciousnesses  of  both  are  identical  in  quality  though 
differently  personified.  If  you  are  contacting  the 
mind  to  be  affected  it  is  all  that  is  possible,  even  if 
you  are  contacting  the  body  as  well,  though  in  the 
latter  case  you  have  the  opportunity  of  asking  the 
mind  to  be  operated  upon  to  become  receptive.  This 
can  be  done  in  absent  treatments  by  appointing  a 
time  at  which  the  mind  to  be  operated  upon  makes 
itself  receptive,  that  is,  frees  itself  from  thoughts 
of  other  things ;  or  it  can  be  even  more  effectually 
worked  when  the  Reason  of  the  mind  to  be  operated 


288  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

upon  is  in  a  state  of  sleep,  i.  e.,  merged  in  its  Supra- 
consciousness.  The  operator  in  either  case  fixes  his 
Point  of  Rightness  in  the  Supraconsciousness  of  the 
Ego  to  be  operated  upon,  and  this  Point  of  Rightness 
becomes  that  of  the  Supraconsciousness  in  which  it  is 
placed  and  its  Urge  works  in  the  manner  desired. 

The  working  of  this  Urge  can  be  simply  shown 
in  putting  oneself  to  sleep.  With  the  body  relaxed 
and  comfortably  situated,  say  to  yourself,  "I  merge 
my  Reason  in  my  Rightness,  in  my  Supraconscious- 
ness, holding  the  thought  of  sleep.  I  have  ceased  to 
reason;  I  think  sleep,  I  think  sleep  now."  Refuse  to 
listen  to  anything  that  memory  or  the  senses  suggest, 
and  persist  in  repeating,  "I  think  sleep  NOW."  It 
is  sometimes  easier  to  vary  the  formula  and  dwell 
for  a  few  seconds  on  the  I  (repeating  your  own 
name)  SLEEP  (merge  my  Reason  into  my  Right- 
ness),  NOW.  Persistently  do  this  with  the  idea  that 
you  are  causing,  creating  sleep,  and  it  will  never  fail 
you. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE:   EVOLUTION   OF   CHRISTIANITY — CHRISTIAN 
SCIENCE. 

The  record  of  things  since  primitive  Man  wor- 
shipped ugly  idols  which  he  vaguely  believed  repre- 
sented an  unseen  Power  or  Powers,  but  which  he 
really  held  to  be  the  Power  or  Powers,  as  he  could 
barely  distinguish  between  the  Expression  and  the 
Thing  expressed,  shows  a  continual  betterment  of 
ideals  caused  by,  not  causing,  intellectual  progress. 
When  Constantine  declared  Christianity  the  State  re- 
ligion of  Rome  it  is  well  known  that  he  accepted 
many  conditions  of  the  various  forms  of  Paganism 
then  extant  which  had  been  only  slightly  modified 
during  the  three  centuries  of  Christian  propaganda. 
It  could  not  have  been  otherwise,  for  the  edict  could 
not  have  instantly  changed  the  people  of  the  empire, 
composed  mostly  of  Pagans  of  many  varieties,  into 
austere  Christians.  Probably  seventy-five  per  cent, 
of  them  had  never  heard  of  Christianity  as  anything 
but  the  fad  of  a  few  fanatics,  but  in  obedience  to  the 
law  they  changed  their  temples  into  churches  and 
gradually  began  to  use  crucifixes  to  replace  their 


290  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

idols.  We  can  easily  conceive  that  the  forms  and 
ceremonials  were  at  first  but  little  changed,  as  so 
many  of  them  are  still  in  existence,  such  as  the  celi- 
bacy of  the  priests  and  nuns,  baptism,  communion, 
the  sing-song  of  responses  and  mass,  bending  down 
in  prayer,  penance  and  other  self-inflicted  tortures, 
including  vows  of  chastity,  poverty  and  silence.  Tor- 
turing others  for  heresy  has  been  forced  out  of 
fashion  by  Reason,  but  many  of  the  vestments  and 
genuflexions  we  can  see  today  could  have  been  seen 
in  the  Pagan  temples  before  the  Christian  era.  The 
advance  of  "Reason  has  been  shown  by  the  weeding 
out  of  some  of  these  things  and  the  elimination  by 
many  sects  of  some  of  the  more  barbarous  concep- 
tions of  the  Infinite.  If  we  examine  the  hymnals  at 
present  in  use,  however,  we  will  still  find  many 
traces  of  Hebrew  and  other  idolatries.  For  instance: 

There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood 

Drawn  from  Immanuel's  veins, 
And   sinners  plunged  beneath  that  flood, 

Lose  all   their  guilty  stains. 

Could  anything  be  more  barbarous  than  this  concep- 
tion of  regeneration,  or  more  distinctly  a  feature 
handed  down  from  the  era  when  blood  sacrifices,  in- 
cluding the  slaughter  of  human  beings,  were  offered 
to  propitiate  enraged  deities  ?  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  idolatries  of  the  civilization  centering  about 
the  Mediterranean  Sea  and  Persia  had  assumed  a  re- 


THE:  EVOLUTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY          291 

finement  almost  as  tolerable  to  the  Reason  as  the 
theologized  Christian  practices  of  the  Dark  Ages,  and 
should  not  be  mixed  in  one's  mind  with  the  atrocious 
ceremonials  practiced  by  cannibals  and  other  remote 
and  barbarous  tribes.  The  incense  and  the  music,  the 
dim  light  of  the  temples,  and  other  sensuous  sur- 
roundings were  doubtless  restful  to  the  devotees. 
Without  being  aware  of  it,  we  still  have  these  condi- 
tions in  a  modified  form.  The  Reformation  led  by 
Luther  somewhat  loosened  the  hold  of  Ecclesiasti- 
cism,  and  this  movement  became  broadened  and 
strengthened  by  England's  acceptance  of  Protestant- 
ism. Afterwards  the  cold,  cruel  logic  of  Calvin  was 
softened  and  sweetened  by  the  emotionalism  of  Wes- 
ley and  the  writings  and  preachings  of  Bunyan. 
Literature  of  a  secular  sort  began  rapidly  to  leaven 
the  lump  of  Unreason.  The  last  century  developed 
many  new  movements  to  release  Religion  from  the 
bondage  of  idolatrous  and  unreasoning  beliefs  and  ob- 
servances. Foremost  amongst  these  was  Unitarian- 
ism,  which  accepted  the  historical  Christ,  but  only  as 
a  Man.  Its  leading  thinkers  and  those  whom  it  at- 
tracted as  its  followers  were  persons  of  such  high 
standing,  intellectually  and  morally,  that  they  became 
a  profitable  object  lesson  to  the  other  Christian  sects, 
even  though  they  were  ostracized  from  all  religious 
conferences  and  held  to  be  heretics  certain  of  damna- 


292  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

tion  because  they  did  not  believe  Christ  was  God. 
Not  having  arrived  at  Positive  Rightness  they  were 
not  constructive,  and  the  movement  never  grew  into 
great  proportions,  though  it  had  an  incalculable  effect 
in  broadening  and  making  more  reasonable  other  sec- 
tarian beliefs. 

Universalism,  born  of  the  humane  impulse  to  reject 
Eternal  Damnation  as  unbelievable,  had  the  same 
weakness  as  Unitarianism,  but  has  done  much  to 
soften  and  make  more  humane  the  popular  conception 
of  the  Infinite. 

The  non-sectarian  movement  led  by  Alexander 
Campbell,  whose  followers  styled  themselves  the  Dis- 
ciples of  Christ,  had  as  its  chief  tenet  the  rejection  01 
the  direct  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  indi- 
vidual, holding  that  conversion  was  through  the 
power  of  the  Word,  i.  e.,  through  Reason.  It  has 
fought  Calvinism,  Ecclesiasticism  and  many  forms  of 
emotionalism,  and  found  many  followers  in  the  United 
States,  as  it  is  purely  democratic  in  its  Church  gov- 
ernment. It  has,  however,  by  its  confusion  of  the 
"miraculous"  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  natu- 
ral action  of  the  Urge  to  Rightness  upon  the  human 
mind,  and  its  practical  rejection  of  both,  failed  to 
come  much  nearer  Positive  Rightness  than  the  others. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY          293 

Theosophy  and  Spiritualism  have  been  striving  to 
obtain  results  from  the  occult  without  developing  as 
a  basis  any  scientific  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the 
Unseen.  They,  however,  have  served  the  purpose  of 
making  us  more  familiar  with  the  Intangible  by  teach- 
ing that  the  Real  cannot  be  sensed. 

To  Mary  Baker  Eddy  must  be  given  the  credit  of 
leading  the  greatest  movement  towards  the  establish- 
ment of  the  true  Christ  Principle  that  has  been  made 
since  the  propaganda  which  established  the  Christian 
era — the  greatest  movement,  in  fact,  since  the  Begin- 
ning of  Things,  as  the  principle  which  she  has  re- 
vived has  not  been  again  Theologized,  and  is  unlikely 
to  be.  With  opportunities  and  concentration  which 
came  of  protracted  invalidism,  she  became  peculiarly 
receptive  to  the  Infinite  Urge  and  conceived  the  truth 
which  scientists  were  only  beginning  to  demonstrate, 
that  EVERYTHING  IS  MIND.  Her  study  of  her 
own  case  and  of  the  Christ  Principle  as  seen  by  the 
Light  given  her,  that  everything  is  Mind,  developed 
her  faith  that  all  disease  was  a  thing  of  the  Mind, 
and  that  Healing  must  therefore  be  a  Thing  of  the 
Mind.  That  she  did  not  base  her  Faith  on  logic  is 
not  surprising.  It  did  not  come  to  her  as  a  logical 
sequence ;  it  was  more  a  revelation  than  a  reasoning 
process.  She  expressed  her  contempt  of  the  Physical 
Sciences  because  they  were  inconclusive,  as  they  must 


294  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

always  be  until  they  accept  the  Infinite  as  a  factor  in 
their  equations.  She  did  not  recognize  that  she  was 
in  possession  of  the  one  thing  that  the  Physical  Scien- 
tists lacked — i.  e.,  an  intake  of  her  Reason  kept  al- 
ways open  to  the  Infinite  Urge.  On  the  other  hand, 
she  did  not  recognize  the  fact  that  the  Physical 
Scientists  were  in  possession  of  a  vast  fund  of  knowl- 
edge .that  would  have  been  incalculably  useful  in 
building  her  structure  FROM  THE  GROUND  UP, 
as  she  was  unquestionably  successful,  so  to  speak,  in 
building  FROM  THE  SKY  DOWN.  She  reasoned 
Deductively — i.  e.,  from  the  higher  to  the  lower;  not 
Inductively — from  the  lower  to  the  higher.  She  was 
probably  not  aware  how  she  became  Positive  in  her 
Rightness;  doubtless  she  underestimated  the  share 
her  Reason  had  in  bringing  her  mind  up  to  the  con- 
clusion which  her  Supraconsciousness  accepted  as 
Positive  Rightness  and  released  the  Power  which  she 
considered  as  a  more  or  less  miraculous  revelation 
instead  of  as  Light  streaming  into  her  Reason  in  a 
perfectly  natural  way.  Her  omission  of  the  use  of 
Inductive  Reasoning  in  its  fulness  lost  her  the  appre- 
ciation and  sympathy  of  the  scientific  world  and  was 
largely  the  cause  of  the  existing  New  Thought  move- 
ment. That  she  arrived  at  her  conclusions  without 
submitting  them  to  the  test  of  every  form  of  Reason- 
ing convinced  the  scientists  that  they  were  unsound 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY          295 

and  would  not  stand  such  a  test.  They  were  at  fault 
in  not  tentatively  accepting  her  conclusions  as  a  factor 
and  thus  testing  their  own  equations  in  order  to  find 
out  why  they  were  inconclusive — always  halting  at 
the  supposed  Unknowable.  If  she  had  accepted  the 
conclusions  of  the  Physical  Scientists  and  reasoned 
them  but  one  step  further  she  would  have  found  them 
Right.  If  they  had  accepted  as  a  factor  her  main 
conclusion,  that  everything  is  Mind,  and  carried  their 
own  argument  that  one  step  further  they  would  have 
found  her  Right.  Marvellous  as  has  been  the  pro- 
gress of  Christian  Science  during  the  past  half-cen- 
tury, it  would  have  been  incalculably  faster  had  Mrs. 
Eddy  given  a  REASON  for  the  "faith  that  was  in 
her."  There  would  have  been  less  scoffing  about  peo- 
ple "thinking"  they  were  sick  if  she  had  explained 
that,  everything  being  Mind,  everything  Thinks — that 
thinking  and  acting  are  identical.  This  perhaps  would 
have  necessitated  the  establishment  of  the  difference 
between  Thinking  and  Reasoning,  and  required  that 
Reason  be  given  the  high  place  which  is  its  due  in 
arriving  at  Positive  Rightness.  She  was  right,  of 
course,  in  her  belief  that  reasoning  was  not  a  curative 
process,  but  at  fault  in  not  giving  it  the  importance  it 
deserves  in  arriving  at  Positive  Rightness,  from  which 
Right  Thinking  must  start.  It  is  a  mistake  to  think 
that  the  great  mass  of  humanity  can  be  readily  con- 


296  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

vinced  of  the  truth  of  anything  which  with  the  light 
at  their  command  they  cannot  reason  out  for  them- 
selves. It  is  well  known  that  not  all  who  try  Chris- 
tian Science  are  able  to  "demonstrate"  its  truth,  yet 
it  relies  almost  entirely  upon  personal  demonstration. 
Those  who  cannot  believe  until  they  understand, 
largely  fail  to  benefit  by  Christian  Science,  while 
those  who  have  a  strong  hereditary  faith — i.  e.,  a 
capacity  to  accept  a  thing  as  true  until  it  is  proved 
untrue — find  the  results  obtained  sufficient  to  estab- 
lish its  truth.  It  is  said  one  must  become  spiritually 
minded  to  obtain  the  benefits  of  Christian  Science,  but 
many  realize,  when  attempting  it,  the  difficulty  of  be- 
coming "spiritually  minded"  with  no  understanding  of 
spiritual  things  except  of  a  vague  Theological  sort. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  establishment  of  the  truth 
of  Christian  Science  by  physically  scientific  tests  and 
the  diffusion  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Infinite  and  the 
simplicity  of  Its  workings  will  make  the  task  of  the 
Christian  Scientists  a  hundredfold  easier. 

It  may  be  asked,  "What  will  be  the  effect  of  the 
acceptance  of  the  principle  upon  which  The  Thinking 
Universe  is  founded  ?  Will  it  be  to  release  the  masses 
from  the  wholesome  restraints  provided  by  Religion  ?" 
What  are  these  "wholesome  restraints"?  The  prin- 
ciples of  the  Mosaic  Law — the  Ten  Commandments 
— are  mostly  embodied  in  our  civil  and  criminal  laws, 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY          297 

as  they  have  been  found  to  have  been  embodied  in 
laws  prior  to  those  of  Moses.  Religion  does  not  en- 
force these  laws,  or  we  would  not  have  judges,  and 
jails  and  policemen.  They  are  the  product  of  cen- 
turies of  generations  of  reasoning  beings  who  have 
found  them  expedient,  and  they  will  continue  to  be 
found  expedient.  All  except  the  Hebrews  have  been 
released  from  the  idea  that  the  God  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments is  the  God  of  the  Jews  only,  and  the 
emancipation  of  the  majority  from  a  belief  in  a  per- 
sonal God  resident  in  some  aerial  city  is  making  great 
headway  without  any  signs  of  increasing  moral  de- 
pravity. Surely  at  this  age  of  advancement  the  fear 
of  Hell — a  place  of  unending  physical  torment — is 
not  held  to  be  a  "wholesome  restraint."  Its  very  un- 
naturalness  has  given  to  inconceivable  torture  the 
name  of  "hellish  cruelty."  The  thought  of  it  does 
more  than  anything  else  to  excite  disbelief  in  the 
reasonableness  of  all  moral  teachings,  for  people  are 
apt  to  confound  moral  tenets  with  religious  dogmas. 
The  thought  that  if  we  do  not  arrive  at  self-control 
on  this  plane  we  must  go  on,  and  on,  and  on  until  we 
do  obtain  it,  cannot  but  have  a  sobering  influence 
upon  the  reckless  ones  who  are  so  successful  in 
flouting  the  idea  of  Hell  that  they  have  resolved  to 
have  a  "good  time"  Here  and  Now  and  take  chances 
of  what  will  happen  There  and  Then.  The  men  who 


298  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

squander  their  all  that  they  may  for  a  day  live  like 
millionaires  are  almost  unknown  amongst  reasoning 
beings  who  hope  for  a  competence  always  and  liberty 
to  enjoy  it.  Such  prodigality  occurs  frequently 
amongst  those  who  fear  prison  and  resolve  to  have  a 
"good  time"  while  they  are  at  large.  If  we  believe 
that  our  Infinite  is  within  ourselves  and  that  we  have 
a  capacity  for  Perfection  no  matter  how  humble  our 
qualities  and  environment  may  appear,  we  are  sure  to 
be  more  self-respecting,  and  if  we  respect  ourselves 
we  will  respect  others.  Amongst  the  millions  who 
are  already  believers  in  or  are  influenced  by  Christian 
Science  and  New  Thought,  can  you  find  any  sign  of  a 
lowered  moral  standard?  What  better  or  more  self- 
respecting  citizens  have  we  than  they?  We  are  con- 
stantly hearing  not  only  of  wonderful  restorations  to 
health,  but  of  equally  wonderful  cases  of  moral  regen- 
eration effected  by  Christian  Science  and  its  kindred 
cults.  Drunkards  and  degenerates  of  all  kinds  have 
been  uplifted  by  a  restored  confidence  in  their  own 
worth.  Indeed,  if  there  be  a  generally  accepted 
charge  against  Christian  Scientists  it  is  that  they  are 
offensively  self-centered  and  contented  with  them- 
selves— self-satisfied.  And  why  should  they  not  be? 

The  man  who  feels  that  he  is  the  Infinite  within 
his  own  Being  knows  that  everything  he  desires  is 
his ;  that  he  only  needs  to  become  Conscious  of  hav- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY          299 

ing  it  to  begin  at  once  to  enjoy  it.  The  scrawny 
flower,  urged  to  Rightness  but  retarded  by  its  envi- 
ronment of  unsuitable  soil,  finds  its  pollen  borne  by 
the  winds  to  suitable  mates  in  more  favored  places, 
and  calyx  and  corolla  are  enlarged  and  filled  till  the 
starveling  bloom  becomes  a  full,  shapely  and  beautiful 
flower.  It  is  so  with  all  things  in  this  Thinking  Uni- 
verse ;  thinking  so  makes  them  so.  The  Reason  of  the 
floriculturist  may  fix  in  his  mind  as  a  Point  of  Right- 
ness  that  the  single  shall  become  a  double  rose,  but  it 
is  his  thinking — acting — that  guides  the  Urge  within 
the  flower  to  its  complex  beauty.  He  does  not  make 
it  so;  it  makes  itself  so.  In  a  like  manner  the  man 
desiring  a  fuller  life  needs  but  to  go  into  his  Supra- 
consciousness  to  voice  his  call,  which  is  instantly 
heard  the  Universe  over,  echoing  in  every  Conscious- 
ness, heard  perhaps  by  but  a  few,  responded  to  per- 
haps, alas !  by  none.  Voiced  again,  and  again,  some 
Consciousness  or  Consciousnesses  respond,  and,  in  the 
parlance  of  the  day,  "things  begin  to  come  his  way." 
Is  he  less  than  the  flower,  which  "toils  not,  neither 
does  it  spin"  ?  It  but  Thinks.  If  the  man  but  rea- 
sons himself  to  a  Point  of  Rightness  and  there  quits 
reasoning,  doubting,  debating,  and  thinks  for  that 
which  is  reasonably  his,  he  gets  it.  The  Universe  is 
responsive  to  Thinking,  but  human  thinking  must 
start  from  a  Point  of  Positive  Rightness  arrived  at 


300  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

by  Reason.  Whether  we  call  this  Point  of  Positive 
Rightness  Reason  or  Faith  means  more  than  it  seems 
to  those  who  have  faith  but  cannot  give  a  reason  for 
it.  They  are  satisfied  with  what  they  have.  But 
should  they  be  ?  To  leave  such  a  condition  unchanged 
is  to  invite  disabilities  in  their  work  as  well  as  to 
leave  those  who  must  understand  before  they  can  be 
benefited,  unreached.  We  have  heard  of  Christian 
Scientists  being  haled  into  court  for  practicing  Heal- 
ing without  a  license,  or  for  neglecting  to  summon  a 
properly  qualified  medical  practitioner  in  cases  of 
sickness  which  proved  fatal.  Why  is  this?  Those 
who  are  prosecuted  feel  that  it  is  unjust;  but  they 
must  remember  that  the  affairs  of  the  world  are  man- 
aged by  Reason,  not  by  Intuition.  The  Christian 
Scientist  may  KNOW  he  is  right,  but  he  cannot  ex- 
plain it  except  by  his  demonstrations,  his  cures. 
These  demonstrations,  these  cures,  no  matter  how 
numerous  they  may  have  become,  do  not  constitute  a 
law.  Until  all  failures  to  demonstrate  disappear  and 
every  case  is  cured,  or  until  Reasons  can  be  given 
why  cures  or  failures  to  cure  ever  take  place  under 
such  treatments,  Christian  Science  cannot  be  re- 
garded as  a  law  taking  its  place  with  other  accepted 
laws  or  as  immune  from  them.  It  must  become  a 
reasonable  thing.  To  do  this,  practitioners  of  all 
kinds  of  so-called  Mental  Healing  should  be  required 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  301 

to  pass  a  licensing  examination — not  in  anatomy,  or 
chemistry,  or  medicine,  or  the  fine  arts,  but  in  psy- 
chology, a  knowledge  of  the  operations  of  the  human 
mind.  As  it  is  by  mind  that  they  seek  to  control 
mind,  surely  they  should  know  its  processes,  both  as 
to  its  control  and  its  controllability,  if  they  know  any- 
thing. A  man  or  woman  who  desires  to  practice 
Mental  Healing  could  not  reasonably  object  to  prov- 
ing, by  submitting  to  examination,  that  he  or  she 
knows  all  that  is  knowable  about  mind  and  its  pro- 
cesses. The  fact  that  a  man  or  woman  FEELS  that 
he  or  she  has  the  gift  of  healing  is  not  enough  in 
this  age  of  reason,  this  age  governed  by  habit  and 
experience,  to  make  them  immune  from  various  medi- 
cal acts  when  they  practice  for  pecuniary  profit.  We 
may  FEEL — i.  e.,  spiritually  know — that  our  wives, 
and  husbands,  and  mothers  and  dear  ones  are  chaste 
and  loyal,  and  no  one  has  a  right  to  demand  that  we 
explain  why  we  know ;  it  is  our  business,  and  our 
business  alone,  and  how  we  know  does  not  affect 
others.  We  may  practice  healing  as  we  may  practice 
the  loving  of  friends,  without  enquiry  being  made ; 
but  when  we  make  a  business  of  it,  it  is  the  right  of 
others  whose  businesses  are  affected  to  demand  an 
explanation  or  cause  our  retirement  from  practice. 
This  is  the  way  the  world  is  run;  it  is  one  of  the 
"wholesome  restraints." 


302  THS  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

That  Christian  Scientists  are  sometimes  brought 
into  court  for  neglecting  to  call  properly  qualified 
medical  practitioners  in  cases  of  fatal  illness  of  those 
dependent  upon  them,  only  proves  the  strength  of 
their  Faith,  and  possibly  their  lack  of  Reason.  If 
faith,  for  which  we  cannot  give  a  reason,  is  so  great 
a  thing,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  Religionists  of  every 
variety,  who  are  so  dependent  upon  this  sort  of  faith 
for  the  existence  of  their  creeds,  should  not  solidly 
unite  to  prevent  such  prosecutions.  That  they  do  not, 
but  appear  to  receive  the  occasional  convictions  with 
approbation  instead  of  resentment,  simply  proves  that 
they  know  very  little  about  either  Faith  or  Reason. 
If  death  be  the  result  of  the  Divine  Will,  Religionists 
have  no  cause  to  complain  of  this  Will  not  having 
been  interfered  with  by  a  regularly  qualified  physi- 
cian. They  preach  this,  but  they  do  not  believe  it. 
Reason  tells  them,  as  it  does  everybody,  that  various 
means  have  been  established  to  prolong  life,  such  as 
surgery,  medicine,  nursing  and  sanitation,  and  they 
insist  that  everyone  shall  have  the  benefit  of  these. 
Fortunately  for  those  concerned,  physicians,  surgeons, 
nurses  and  sanitary  inspectors  are  not  punished  by 
fine  or  imprisonment  when  they  fail  while  using  every 
means  at  their  disposal,  to  prolong  life.  This  is  the 
recognition  by  Reason  that  the  sciences  referred  to 
are  not  exact.  That  people  should  be  punished  for 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY          303 

not  calling  a  physician  when  he  can  by  no  means 
guarantee  a  cure,  while  they  believe  a  practitioner  of 
the  healing  art  can,  if  not  interfered  with  by  a  doctor, 
restore  the  patient  to  health,  does  not  seem  fair,  and 
that  such  prosecutions  are  rare  and  generally  unsuc- 
cessful is  a  credit  to  the  administration  of  justice. 

Christian  Science  instead  of  New  Thought  is  used 
to  bring  out  the  above  points,  because  the  former  has 
a  well  devised  organization,  which  the  latter  lacks, 
and,  composed  as  it  is  of  incongruous  elements,  is  in- 
capable of  concerted  action.  New  Thought  is  really 
the  impulse  of  those  who  recognize  that  there  is  some- 
thing infinitely  true  in  Christian  Science  but  cannot 
understand  it,  to  find  something  which  they  can  un- 
derstand and  which  will  produce  similar  results.  They 
have  found  that  in  Stillness  they  find  wisdom  and 
strength,  and  though  they  recognize  that  it  is  from  the 
Infinite  they  obtain  these  things  by  consciously  going 
into  It,  they  have  been  unable  to  explain  why.  The 
Urge  within  them  impels  them  to  seek  the  Truth,  and 
in  the  Infinite  they  will  find  it.  Man  is  too  easily 
satisfied  that  he  has  found  enough  for  HIM,  espe- 
cially when  he  is  Truth-seeking.  Going  into  Stillness 
is  not  enough;  we  must  go  in  and  remain  in  it  with 
a  definite  object  in  view,  and  the  worthier  that  object 
the  better  it  is  lor  us.  Going  into  Stillness  in  the 
spirit  of  near  reverie  may  be  restful,  but  it  is  other- 


304  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE; 

wise  useless.  Going  into  Stillness  with  the  object  of 
inducing  the  condition  of  auto-hypnosis  or  partial 
auto-hypnosis,  as  is  so  prevalent  in  India,  is  idle,  for 
we  bring  nothing  back  with  us.  Knowing  where  to 
go  to  seek  something  great — as  in  Stillness — is  dimin- 
ished in  importance  when  such  retirements  are  not  for 
the  purpose  of  developing  some  great  or  worthy 
thought.  As  Formalism  in  Religion  diminishes  true 
Spirituality,  so  Formalism  in  everything  kills  that 
which  it  was  intended  to  foster.  This  is  suggested 
by  the  fact  that  New  Thought — as  it  is  now  gen- 
erally known — has  not  developed  any  Great  Thought, 
though  many  followers  of  it  have  written  volume  after 
volume  of  beautiful  and  helpful  things.  We  all  know 
that  our  Reason  must  be  kept  busy,  either  believing 
or  disbelieving  some  special  thing.  In  pursuance  of 
this,  many  New  Thoughters  have  taken  up  Vegetar- 
ianism or  Reincarnation,  or  both.  They  cannot  see 
that  Vegetarianism  is  not  vital  either  as  a  diet  or  a 
doctrine,  and  Reincarnation  physically  and  spiritually 
impossible  except  in  the  sense  that  our  ancestors  find 
reincarnation  in  our  Subconsciousnesses.  This  rein- 
carnation, however,  is  carried  on  by  the  continuance 
of  life  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  death  of  the 
body  and  the  release  of  the  spirit  at  that  time.  To 
thrust  the  Ego,  recently  relieved  from  a  bodily  en- 
vironment, even  i'.ito  an  unborn  Consciousness,  would 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  305 

violate  the  Infinite  law  of  non-interference  with  any 
Consciousness.  It  would  defeat  all  that  is  accom- 
plished by  heredity  in  the  way  of  building  up  a  Habit 
Life,  and  make  the  human  Subconsciousness  a  much 
more  imperfect  thing  than  it  is  now.  Another  error 
into  which  too  many  New  Thoughters  have  fallen  is 
that  of  considering  the  human  Ego  to  consist  of  a 
Consciousness,  a  Subconsciousness,  and  the  latter's  ex- 
pression— a  body — giving  no  place  to  the  Supracon- 
sciousness,  but  exalting  the  Subconsciousness  to  the 
superlative  office  of  the  Infinite  within  us.  We  can 
easily  see  that  this  error  must  necessarily  do  much 
to  defeat  the  work  of  Healers  who  think  directly  to 
the  Subconsciousness  of  their  patients,  when  they 
can  alone  influence  them  through  the  Supraconscious- 
ness,  except  as  their  thoughts  offer  to  the  Subcon- 
sciousness appealed  to  suggestions  of  no  greater  pow- 
er than  the  suggestions  continually  being  offered  by 
memory  and  environment.  They  seem  to  recognize 
that  Infinite  Life  does  the  work,  but  are  quite  at  sea 
as  to  how  it  is  done.  That  many  of  them  succeed 
indicates  that  they  have  arrived  at  a  Point  of  Right- 
ness  within  themselves  which  is  accepted  by  Infinite 
Life — never  jealous  of  its  prerogative — and  healing 
power  released.  If  they  better  understood  themselves 
and  the  processes  of  Mind  their  Consciousness  would 
be  enlarged  and  made  more  powerful  to  the  extent  of 


306  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

their  knowledge,  thus  greatly  adding  to  their  suc- 
cess. All  mental  healing  is  accomplished  through 
Faith — Reason  made  Positive  in  Rightness — but  it 
does  not  follow  that  the  faith  is  always  well  founded. 
Faith  in  anything,  if  sufficiently  strong,  will  do  the 
work.  The  intention  of  these  studies  is  to  establish 
a  basis  of  ABSOLUTE  TRUTH,  so  that  all,  not 
merely  those  gifted  with  strong  hereditary  faith, 
may  benefit  or  be  benefited.  This  basis  can  only  be 
established  by  a  knowledge  of  the  Infinite  law  and 
the  Elemental  laws  which  express  IT  in  things. 

To  return  to  the  "wholesome  restraints"  which 
would  disappear  if  this  law  of  the  Ego  be  established, 
we  have  found  none.  Fear,  that  most  weakening  of 
all  things,  would  disappear,  and  with  it  the  power  of 
Ecclesiasticism.  On  the  other  hand,  what  incentive  to 
Rightness  would  disappear?  Can  you  think  of  any? 
Can  you  think  of  anything  alluring  to  those  desiring 
to  be  right  or  even  to  be  thought  right,  which  would 
lose  any  of  its  potency  or  pass  out  of  existence? 
Would  the  desire  to  do  right  become  weakened?  The 
man  who  lives  Conscious  that  HIS  INFINITE  is 
within  him,  like  Enoch,  "walks  with  God."  No  greater 
nearness  to  GOD  can  be  conceived,  no  more  constant 
or  powerful  influence  to  GOOD  could  be  found,  than 
the  consciousness,  I  AM  THE  INFINITELY  GOOD 
IN  MYSELF.  "Will  this  consciousness  come  to  us 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY          307 

if  we  accept  this  law?"  you  may  ask.  it  certainly 
will  to  the  extent  that  you  accept  it.  If  you  accept 
it  to  the  extent  only  of  ceasing  to  believe  in  a  Per- 
sonal God  it  will  not  be  an  abiding  strength  to  you, 
but  the  Reason  that  can  carry  you  that  far  will  carry 
you  further  if  you  seek  Infinite  direction.  "But,"  you 
may  say,  "I  may  lose  my  belief  in  a  Personal  God  and 
be  left  with  nothing."  As  far  as  Truth  is  concerned, 
what  you  have  at  present  is  nothing;  that  you  have 
been  influenced  by  it  must  prove  to  you  the  strength 
of  the  Urge  to  Rightness  within  you  which  made 
of  value  to  you  as  a  guide  something  which  did  not  ex- 
ist. This  Urge  will  not  cease,  and  will  be  of  as 
much  value  to  you  in  finding  your  way  as  it  ever  was. 
Indeed,  it  will  be  more  valuable,  because,  bereft  of  a 
false  faith,  one  is  always  more  receptive  of  Truth. 
You  need  not  fear.  When  you  ceased  to  believe  in 
Santa  Claus  you  did  not  cease  to  expect  as  good 
things  from  the  real  givers  of  them  as  you  did  from 
the  supposed  giver  of  them.  And  you  were  not 
wrong,  though  you  regretted  the  passing  away  of  a 
pretty  superstition.  Surely  you  do  not  desire  in  your 
maturity  to  continue  the  Santa  Claus  illusion  of  a 
bewhiskered  and  impossible  little  fat  man  and  a  team 
of  reindeer  making  a  miraculous  entrance  into  your 
house  with  Yuletide  presents,  now  that  you  know  that 
the  givers  of  the  presents  are  residents  in  the  house 


308  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

with  you.  How,  then,  can  you  fear  the  loss  of  an 
illusion  that  an  impossible  Personal  God,  or  His  im- 
possible Personal  Son,  makes  miraculous  entrances 
into  your  Consciousness,  when  your  Reason  tells  you 
that  the  gifts  and  the  giver  are  already  within  you? 
The  loss  of  the  Santa  Claus  illusion  did  not  diminish 
your  generosity  in  giving  nor  your  gratitude  in  re- 
ceiving gifts,  while  your  Reason  was  uplifted  by  re- 
lease from  a  deception  which  can  only  be  excused  on 
the  ground  of  fostering  in  the  childish  mind  the  idea 
that  all  good  things  come  from  the  Unseen,  and  this 
should  be  explained  to  youngsters  when  the  time  for 
disillusionment  comes;  otherwise  even  the  childish 
mind  will  resent,  according  to  the  strength  of  its  Ego- 
ism, the  thought  of  having  been  tricked. 

You  may  fear  the  ostracism  of  Orthodoxy  if  you 
announce  your  acceptance  of  Truth,  but  it  is  far 
easier  and  safer  to  live  in  the  open  than  in  partial 
hiding.  Orthodoxy  respects  Reason  even  if  it  does 
not  follow  it,  while  at  heart  it  hates  pretense,  though 
busy  itself  in  pretending.  Loss  of  social  position 
should  not,  and  seldom  does,  follow  Right  Doing,  and 
when  it  occurs  it  is  only  apparent  and  temporary. 
Failing  to  go  to  church  and  listen  to  things  you  no 
longer  believe  may  separate  you  from  some  valued 
friends,  but  you  will  soon  realize  that  this  separation 
would  not  have  been  possible  if  you  had  not  over-valued 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  309 

their  friendship.  You  may  be  appalled  by  the  thought 
that  church-going  will  cease,  singing  and  praying 
and  preaching  disappear.  Not  so.  The  law  of  At- 
traction will  not  cease.  Like  will  be  attracted  to  like. 
The  community  impulse  will  be  as  strong  as  ever. 
People  will  assemble  themselves  as  of  old  to  hear 
that  which  pleases  and  uplifts  them.  There  will  be 
less  noisy  prayer,  but  more  sincere  turnings  to  the 
Infinite  for  guidance ;  music  and  singing  will  not  be 
less  popular,  but  more  so,  for  the  law  of  Egoism  is 
the  law  of  Expression,  and  he  or  she  who  feels  full 
of  Goodness  and  Harmony  will  voice  the  feeling. 
Organizations  of  people  of  similar  tastes  will  not  be 
decreased  in  numbers  and  influence  or  the  doing  of 
good,  and  preachers  will  be  changed  into  teachers 
with  ample  scope  for  their  energies.  Indeed,  in  look- 
ing not  only  at  this  life,  but  at  life  on  the  plane  that 
will  follow  it,  one  cannot  help  being  impressed  with 
the  great  share  that  Teaching  must  have  in  develop- 
ing Reason  towards  perfection  in  both.  Doubtless  the 
chief  employment  that  we  will  find  in  our  next  state 
of  existence  will  be  that  of  Teaching.  The  Infinite 
Urge  to  Rightness  is  busied  only  in  causing  the  vari- 
ous Expressions  of  Life  to  express  their  possibilities 
to  the  fullest.  What  is  this  but  Teaching? — a  thing 
which  because  of  the  popular  underestimation  of  Rea- 
son has  far  too  low  a  status  in  the  professions,  even 


310  THE  THINKING 

if  it  be  allowed  the  privilege  of  calling  itself  a  pro- 
fession. It  surely  cannot  be  that  the  education  of  the 
future,  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  will  be  of  the  Out- 
side instead  of  the  Inside.  "Outside"  education  is 
the  acquirement  of  things  we  can  "show  off;"  "In- 
side" education  is  learning  how  to  DO  things,  BE 
things.  The  law  of  Cause  and  Effect  will  become 
more  than  a  phrase;  it  will  be  the  mainspring  of  our 
conduct. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE:  FUTURE  LIFE:,  REVEALED  BY  THE  LAW  OF 
RIGHTNESS. 

The  greatest  difficulty  of  Right  Living  is  to  divest 
ourselves  of  the  grossness  of  our  way  of  thinking. 
We  can  only  rid  ourselves  of  the  coarseness  of  our 
habits  of  living  by  the  development  of  the  spiritual 
side  of  our  Ego.  After  we  have  learned  that  our 
thoughts,  through  the  Infinite  in  the  Ego,  can  con- 
trol the  body  we  are  certain  to  become  careful  not  to 
entertain  thoughts  which  will  damage  our  health, 
while  on  the  other  hand  we  will  be  persistent  in  in- 
viting and  holding  thoughts  necessary  to  our  bodily 
welfare.  More  will  have  been  accomplished  at  this 
stage  of  our  progress  than  is  apparent  at  first  glance. 
All  thoughts  of  grossness  and  excess  become  abhor- 
rent to  us  because  we  know  they  damage  us,  and  we 
consequently  avoid  the  persons,  places  and  things 
likely  to  suggest  coarseness  or  excess ;  thus  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  "spirituality''  is  obtained.  We  ex- 
amine our  methods  of  making  a  living  as  to  whether 
they  are  detrimental  to  our  bodily  welfare  as  well 
as  our  happiness,  and  learn  that  speculation,  hazards, 


312  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

uncertainties  of  all  kinds  are  disturbing  and  worry- 
ing and  we  avoid  them,  and  the  whole  tendency  of 
our  thoughts  is  in  the  direction  of  legitimate  busi- 
ness. In  this  way  we  become  law-abiding,  avoid  idle- 
ness, gambling,  profligacy,  quarreling  and  war,  and 
have  unconsciously  "spiritualized"  our  employments. 
When  we  have  learned  to  watch  the  workings  of  the 
law  of  Cause  and  Effect  we  will  only  remember 
Yesterday  to  the  extent  of  avoiding  its  mistakes, 
and  will  look  forward  to  Tomorrow  with  a  joyous 
certainty  of  doing  something  better  than  we  did  To- 
day. We  have  learned  to  pay  heed  to  our  Spiritual 
Selves,  to  watch  and  control  our  thoughts,  knowing 
how  much  they  mean  as  producers  of  health  and 
happiness.  If  we  have  learned  to  watch  our  thoughts 
we  are  living  on  the  Thought  plane  and  have  risen 
above  that  most  undesirable  of  all  things,  gross  Ma- 
terialism. 

Further  to  spiritualize  our  lives  we  must  live  as 
if  Here  and  Now  constituted  but  a  rather  pleasing 
incident  preparatory  to  an  endless  life  of  progress 
There  and  Then.  To  do  this  it  would  seem  profit- 
able to  have  a  more  distinct  idea  of  what  we  will  do 
and  be  after  we  cross  the  Street  we  call  Death  and 
live  on  the  Other  Side  of  the  Way. 


THE  FUTURE  LIFE  313 

Reasoning  by  analogy  the  only  difference  we  will 
find  on  the  Other  Side  of  the  Way  will  be  the  ab- 
sence of  our  coarser  bodies  and  of  the  necessity  of 
ministering  to  them  as  to  food,  shelter,  warmth  and 
clothing.  While  we  are  relieved  from  providing  these 
things,  it  will  be  seen  that  all  employment  connected 
with  the  production  of  them  will  also  cease.  All 
"material"  things  having  been  left  behind  us,  it  may 
seem  puzzling  what  we  are  to  do  with  ourselves, 
how  we  are  to  fill  our  time,  what  will  be  left  demand- 
ing the  use  of  our  Reason.  Supposing  yourself  to 
be  in  that  favored  condition  of  independence  on  this 
plane  in  which  you  would  have  to  take  no  thought 
with  regard  to  providing  warmth,  food,  shelter  and 
clothing  for  yourself  and  family,  what  would  you  do? 
It  is  a  position  that  we  all  hope  to  achieve  even  Here 
and  Now.  Would  you  spend  your  time  in  eating, 
drinking,  swaggering  about  the  city,  and  winding  up 
the  daily  round  with  sleep?  If  so,  you  would  be 
getting  no  more  out  of  life  than  you  did  when  you 
had  to  work — not  so  much,  for  in  working  you  were 
doing  something  useful.  On  the  other  hand,  are 
you  ambitious,  when  you  become  thus  independent, 
to  engage  your  faculties  in  making  men  happier, 
better  and  wiser?  One  is  a  material  conception  of 
the  purpose  of  living,  and  the  other  the  intellectual 
or  spiritual  view  of  what  life  is  for.  If  on  This  Side 


314  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

of  the  Street  you  devote  yourself  so  entirely  to  ma- 
terial things  as  to  stunt  your  spiritual  growth  you 
will  be  lonesome  and  ill-at-ease  when  you  move 
Across  the  Way,  though  you  will  find  plenty  of  com- 
panionship among  the  spiritual  runts  in  the  sphere 
to  which  you  will  certainly  gravitate,  for  the  law  of 
Attraction  will  cause  you  to  assemble  with  your  kind. 
As  there  will  be  no  eating  and  drinking  to  fill  your 
time,  your  Reason,  impelled  by  the  Infinite  Urge  to 
Rightness,  will  cause  you  to  seek  to  develop  yourself 
intellectually.  This  you  will  find  can  only  be  done 
There  as  it  is  done  Here,  by  either  improving  your 
environment  or  getting  out  of  it.  There  seems  to  be 
no  way  of  doing  either  of  these  things  without  mak- 
ing an  effort  to  improve  yourself,  and  to  improve 
yourself  you  must  try  to  improve  others ;  others  in  the 
same  fix  will  be  trying  to  improve  themselves  by  try- 
ing to  improve  you,  and  the  friction  and  stimulus  of 
rivalry  will  be  mutually  beneficial. 

If  we  analyze  our  intellectual  life  as  we  find  it  Here 
and  Now  we  will  find  that  its  chief  impulse  is  a 
desire  for  companionship — a  sympathetic  environment. 
As  animals  we  seek  to  be  well  fed,  kept  sufficiently 
warm — to  be  what  is  so  well  expressed  by  the  word 
"comfortable."  This  desire  to  be  "comfortable"  is 
nothing  more  than  the  animal  expression  of  our  intel- 
lectual desire  to  be  in  a  state  of  contentment — satis- 


FUTURE:  LiffE  315 

fied  with  the  thoughts  and  impressions  continuously 
afforded  by  our  environment  for  mental  digestion  by 
our  Reason.  This  intellectual  environment  must  con- 
sist of  fellow-beings  with  whom  we  are  in  sympathy, 
or  the  intellectual  productions  of  fellow-beings  which 
are  pleasing  to  us — what  we  know  as  "congenial 
companionship."  We  can  find  this  companionship 
in  books,  music  and  works  of  art,  more  completely 
in  many  instances  than  in  mental  contact  with  our 
personal  friends,  for  civilization  is  so  advanced  that 
reproductions  of  the  works  of  the  greatest  minds  are 
accessible  to  all,  while  personal  contact  with  great 
men  and  women  is  limited  to  a  few.  The  enjoyment 
we  get  out  of  a  good  book  is  afforded  us  by  what 
the  writer  knows,  not  by  what  he  is,  for  of  the  latter 
we  may  be  entirely  ignorant  or  unheedful.  The  in- 
tellectual pleasure  we  find  in  the  personal  compan- 
ionship of  our  fellow-beings  with  whom  we  come  in 
contact  is  of  the  same  sort — we  like  them  for  what 
they  know  more  than  for  what  they  are  or  seem  to 
be.  It  would  seem,  then,  that  intellectual  companion- 
ship may  be  of  a  very  impersonal  sort,  and  intel- 
lectual contentment  consist  more  of  accessibility  to 
what  people  know  than  to  the  people  themselves. 

It  has  become  evident  in  the  studies  we  have  made 
together  of  the  unchanging  law  of  Rightness  that 
the  human  Consciousness  and  the  qualities  it  ex- 


316  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

presses  Here  will  be  the  same  There,  and  it  will  be 
worth  while  for  a  few  moments  to  examine  the  means 
of  communication  which  will  be  afforded  us  through 
which  we  shall  have  access  to  the  thoughts  of  others 
when  divested  of  our  fleshly  bodies.  Though  but 
little  thought  has  been  given  to  this  subject,  there 
seems  to  be  an  erroneous  impression  amongst  those 
who  have  considered  it  at  all,  that  on  the  spiritual 
plane  everybody  will  know  everybody  else  and  in- 
stantly cognize  what  everybody  is  thinking  about; 
or  that  everyone  will  be  a  stranger  to  everyone  else 
and  know  nothing  of  what  others  are  thinking,  and 
have  no  means  of  finding  out.  The  latter  is  certainly 
so  unthinkable  as  not  to  deserve  attention.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  everybody  knows  everybody  else  and 
is  instantly  aware  of  what  everybody  is  thinking,  such 
a  thing  as  privacy  will  be  impossible,  and  without 
privacy  there  can  be  no  individuality.  If  Here  and 
Now  we  knew  everything  about  everybody  else,  and 
everybody  knew  everything  there  is  to  know  about 
us,  no  one  could  have  anything  he  could  rightfully 
claim  as  his  own  particular  possession.  Acquaint- 
ance with  anybody  would  be  so  instant  and  easy  as 
to  be  undesirable,  and  if  you  think  for  a  moment 
you  will  see  that  such  a  condition  of  things  would 
bring  us  all  to  a  dead  level,  and  all  effort  to  know 
or  be  more  than  we  know  or  are  would  cease,  inso- 


THE;  FUTURE  LIFE  3 1 7 

much  as  we  would  know  everything  that  everybody 
else  knows  and  be  conscious  of  what  everybody  else 
is  conscious  of.  The  human  Consciousness  will  be 
as  inviolable  There  and  Then  as  it  is  Here  and  Now, 
and  no  one  will  know  any  more  about  you  than  you 
are  willing  for  them  to  know.  No  one  will  see  you 
because  there  are  no  eyes,  no  one  will  hear  you  be- 
cause there  are  no  ears;  all  communication  will  be 
through  the  channel  of  Awareness.  If  you  do  not 
desire  others  to  be  aware  of  your  presence  they  will 
not  become  aware  of  you  until  you  fix  a  Point  of 
Rightness  in  your  Supraconsciousness  admitting  their 
right  to  contact  or  influence  you.  When  Here  and 
Now  you  do  not  desire  to  see  a  caller  you  cause  your 
servant  to  announce  that  you  are  "Not  at  home," 
which  means  that  you  are  not  at  home  to  that  person. 
In  the  spiritual  world  when  others  desire  to  see  you 
they  will  have  to  contact  you  through  your  Supra- 
consciousness, which  can  say  "Not  at  home"  to  them 
as  easily  as  your  servant  did  to  your  earthly  caller. 
If  through  someone  else  who  can  acceptably  contact 
your  Supraconsciousness  an  arrangement  for  meeting 
can  be  made  it  will  answer  the  purpose  of  an  intro- 
duction, and  your  privacy  will  be  preserved. 

We  are  again  back  to  the  old  subject  of  the  "set" 
Point  of  Rightness.  There  and  Then  it  will  mean 
everything,  as  it  does  Here  and  Now,  though  we  do 


318  THS  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

not  recognize  it  Now  as  we  will  Then.  You  will 
"set"  your  Point  of  Rightness  as  to  how  you  will 
appear  to  others,  as  well  as  if  you  will  appear  at  all. 
Instead  of  carefully  dressing  for  the  eyes  of  your 
caller  you  will  think  carefully  of  how  you  desire  to 
appear,  and  having  arranged  all  this  mentally  you 
will  fix  it  as  your  Point  of  Rightness  and  you  will 
appear  exactly  as  you  arranged  you  should  appear. 
In  this  way  you  will  always  be  to  everybody  that  you 
allow  to  contact  you  just  as  your  Reason  settles  that 
you  will  think  you  are.  If  we  examine  this  condi- 
tion we  shall  find  it  very  similar  to  the  one  which 
exists  now,  everyone  practically  accepting  us  at  our 
own  estimate  of  ourselves.  If  we  are  conscious  of 
not  being  fit  for  good  society  we  do  not  get  into  it; 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  conscious  that  we  are 
fit  for  such  society  we  find  means  of  getting  into  it. 
In  the  Future  State  we  shall  not  be  embarrassed  as 
we  sometimes  are  Here  by  not  being  able  to  dress 
in  accordance  with  the  usages  of  the  society  we  de- 
sire to  enter;  if  when  There  we  are  conscious  that 
our  "fixed"  Point  of  Rightness  in  matters  of  attire 
will  be  acceptable  to  those  with  whom  we  desire  to 
mingle,  we  shall  know  that  we  are  properly  arrayed. 
You  may  think  that  this  anxiety  to  appear  well  is  a 
frivolous  view  to  take  of  the  Future  State,  but  it  is 
not ;  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  Infinite  law  of  Right- 


FUTURE  Liim  319 

ness,  and  the  further  we  progress  the  more  anxious 
we  will  be  to  appear  right  as  well  as  be  right.  Of 
course  we  shall  make  mistakes  till  we  arrive  at  Posi- 
tive Rightness;  we  shall  often  set  a  Point  of  Right- 
ness  and  admit  others  to  an  awareness  of  it,  and  the 
point  will  not  please  those  it  was  intended  to  please, 
and  they  will  make  us  aware  of  this.  Our  Reason 
may  tell  us  Then  as  it  does  Now  that  we  have  be- 
come perfectly  wise  on  some  subjects,  and  we  will 
admit  others  to  an  awareness  of  this  opinion  of  our- 
selves, just  as  in  the  present  life  we  communicate 
this  intelligence  by  words  or  actions.  Those  who 
know  we  are  wrong  will  make  us  become  aware  of 
this  and  we  shall  feel  humiliated,  just  as  we  do  Now 
when  someone  reveals  our  mistakes  to  us.  We  shall 
make  friends  and  lose  them ;  tiring  of  them,  we  will 
drop  them;  tiring  of  us,  they  may  drop  out  of  our 
circle.  Our  love  of  companionship  will  necessarily 
be  greater  than  ever,  as  our  only  access  to  advanced 
spiritual  thought  will  consist  of  the  possibility  of 
establishing  an  awareness  with  advanced  reasoners  or 
with  those  who  have  that  privilege.  To  extend  as 
far  as  possible  this  companionship  we  will  endeavor 
to  fit  ourselves  for  it,  but  as  this  will  necessarily  be  a 
more  or  less  slow  process  we  shall  be  forced  to  con- 
tent ourselves,  as  we  are  forced  Here  and  Now,  with 
the  companionship  of  those  we  like  and  who  are  fond 


320  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

of  us  without  being  particularly  uplifting  in  their 
influence.  In  this  way  we  shall  have  glimpses  of 
planes  higher  than  ours,  and  lower  than  ours,  but 
as  Now  the  plane  upon  which  we  move  will  be  the 
most  important  to  us  and  the  companionship  of  those 
upon  it  will  be  our  chief  interest.  Is  this  not  exactly 
the  condition  of  things  Here  and  Now? 

Perhaps  it  is  difficult  for  you  to  realize  a  phase 
of  life  which  consists  entirely  of  companionship 
through  Awareness.  Did  you  ever  see  a  little  com- 
pany of  children  at  play,  or  a  child,  alone  as  far  as 
your  vision  goes,  amusing  itself  talking  and  laugh- 
ing with  some  familiar  childish  spirit  which  is  as 
real  to  it  as  a  fleshly  playmate  could  be?  The  child 
may  have  a  stick  of  wood  with  a  rag  wrapped  around 
it,  and  you  may  hear  it  addressing  it  something  after 
this  fashion:  "Now,  Ethel,  you've  got  the  loveliest 
silk  gown  you  ever  saw,  trimmed  with  real  lace  and 
all  covered  with  frills  and  beads.  You  have  on  the 
loveliest  silk  stockings  and  white  kid  slippers  that  I 
could  buy,  and  your  lovely  blonde  hair  curls  just 
beautifully.  What  lovely  blue  eyes  you  have,  and 
such  pretty  teeth,  and  such  del-i-cate  hands!  You're 
the  loveliest  lady  in  the  land,  and  we're  going  to  a 
ball  right  now !"  And  the  youngster  dances  around 
with  the  doll  or  stick  of  wood,  and  it  responds  to  her 
as  completely  as  if  it  were  alive.  The  youngster  has 


FUTURE:  LitfE  321 

simply  fixed  a  Point  of  Rightness  for  the  doll,  and 
it  thinks  back  to  her  from  this  Point  of  Rightness ; 
it  does  not  speak,  but  she  does — they  are  both  on  the 
same  plane. 

A  little  company  of  children  are  arranging  some- 
thing to  play.  A  masterful  little  boy  asserts:  "I'm 
a  millionaire  and  have  just  paid  a  million  dollars  for 
a  yacht,  and  I'll  take  you  all  out  for  a  cruise. 
(Chorus  of  children:  'Oh,  isn't  he  rich!')  Isn't  it 
fine  sailing  away  out  of  sight  of  land!  ('I  hope  it 
won't  storm/  pipes  a  little  voice.)  It  won't  matter/' 
cries  the  boy.  "This  ship  doesn't  rock.  What's  that 
I  see  out  there?  It's  an  island,  and  that  over  there 
is  a  sail!  Aha!"  cries  the  little  captain,  "it's  a 
pirate!  ('Will  the  pirate  catch  us?'  whisper  the 
children  in  terror.)  I'm  afraid  he  will,"  cries  the 
captain,  "before  we  can  make  land."  Instantly  the 
scene  changes,  and  the  awareness  of  the  children 
changes  to  the  new  Point  of  Rightness  fixed  in  them 
by  their  leader.  "You  are  all  drownded,"  he  cries, 
"and  lying  on  the  sand  of  the  island!  (Instantly  the 
children  drop  on  the  lawn  and  stretch  themselves  out 
as  if  dead.)  The  pirate  caught  us  and  threw  us  all 
overboard,  and  I  rescued  you  and  brought  you  to  this 
island,  but  you're  all  drownded.  Lie  still!  ('Hurry 
up/  whispers  a  little  voice;  'I  don't  like  to  be 
drownded.')  Never  mind,"  shouts  the  lad;  "I've 


322  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

been  and  bought  a  new  yacht  for  two  million  dollars, 
and  now  I'll  bring  you  all  to  and  we'll  start  off 
again."  The  little  fellow  had  the  power  of  fixing  a 
Point  of  Rightness  in  the  Supraconsciousnesses  of 
his  childish  playmates,  and  they  had  not  become  suf- 
ficiently materialized  to  find  any  difficulty  in  being 
just  the  persons  and  in  the  conditions  he  asserted 
them  to  be.  They  had  not  yet  received  those  hard 
jolts  which  are  almost  sure  to  cause  us  in  later  life  to 
demand  an  objectivity  of  our  thoughts  which  we  can 
sense.  In  other  words,  their  thoughts  instantly  be- 
came Things,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  they  could 
sense  nothing  in  their  environment  to  confirm  their 
awareness;  for  the  moment  they  and  the  things 
about  them  became  what  they  thought  they  were; 
they  were  living  on  a  spiritual  plane,  and  their  bodies 
and  the  things  about  them  became  unreal,  while  their 
thoughts,  as  in  truth  they  were,  became  reality. 

"Except  ye  become  as  little  children  ye  can  in  no 
wise  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven"  (Harmony), 
says  the  Great  Philosophy.  Till  you  cultivate  your 
Awareness  to  the  extent  of  making  real  things  that 
are  not  material,  ye  cannot  enter  the  State  of  Har- 
mony. The  things  we  so  much  prize  Here  and  Now 
and  the  senses  by  which  we  appreciate  them  are  but 
shadows  of  the  real  things  of  life  and  the  Awareness 
which  will  make  senses  unnecessary. 


THE:  FUTURE  LIFE  323 


We  have  seen  that  the  privacy  and  individuality  of 
every  Consciousness  will  be  inviolable  There  and 
Then  as  they  are  Here  and  Now;  Here  we  protect 
our  animal  selves  from  bodily  intrusion  by  walls  and 
doors  and  other  physical  means,  while  we  maintain 
the  privacy  of  our  Consciousnesses  by  silence  when 
questioned  with  reference  to  subjects  regarding  which 
we  do  not  desire  to  express  an  opinion,  or  when  asked 
to  disclose  facts  in  our  possession  which  we  do  not 
wish  to  reveal.  In  the  Future  Life  we  shall  have 
nothing  to  protect  but  our  Consciousnesses,  and  from 
these  we  can  bar  intruders  by  simply  refusing  the  in- 
truder an  opportunity  to  fix  his  Point  of  Rightness 
in  our  Supraconsciousnesses,  as  that  would  establish 
a  temporary  awareness  of  what  we  are  thinking,  i.  e., 
how  at  the  moment  our  minds  are  acting.  Consider 
for  a  moment  how  important  this  is.  In  That  ex- 
istence, as  in  This,  there  will  be  outlaws,  and  the 
penalty  of  their  outlawry  will  be  their  lack  of  access 
to  the  companionship  of  anyone  but  their  own  class, 
thus  forcing  them  to  herd  together  in  a  "hell"  of 
their  own  making.  Reference  to  "outlaws"  implies 
the  existence  of  regulations  adopted  by  those  of  the 
spiritual  world  similar  to  the  laws  expressing  the 
Community  Consciousness  here  on  earth.  These,  of 
course,  will  exist  and  be  administered  as  Here,  locally 
and  generally  from  centers  of  power.  It  is  evident 


324  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

that  the  Future  State  will  be  a  condition  for  the  per- 
fecting of  Reason  and  will  be  ruled  by  Reason,  and 
that  its  rules  (laws)  will  express  the  degrees  of  per- 
fection of  Reason  arrived  at  on  its  various  planes. 
No  penalty  for  infractions  of  these  laws  can  be  con- 
ceived except  deprivation  of  desirable  companionship 
— much  the  same  in  effect  as  imprisonment  in  this 
life  but  radically  different  in  execution,  as  this  de- 
privation of  companionship  will  be  inflicted  by  the 
individual  instead  of  the  community.  It  will  not  be 
necessary  or  possible  to  incarcerate  the  outlaw,  for, 
as  there  are  no  physical  bodies  to  confine  or  injure 
and  the  spiritual  body  being  uninjurable  except  by 
its  possessor,  there  will  be  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
outlaw  but  the  annoyances  he  may  cause.  These 
annoyances  must  necessarily  be  unconventional  at- 
tempts to  enter  into  an  awareness  with  those  who 
do  not  desire  such  an  acquaintance;  they  will  be  like 
the  persistent  ringing  of  earthly  door-bells  by  ped- 
dlers, canvassers,  tramps  and  beggars,  annoying  but 
not  dangerous.  That  there  will  be  such  annoyances 
seems  obvious,  for  life  undisturbed  by  anything  would 
be  without  incentive  to  effort.  The  continuous  ap- 
peals of  the  unfortunate  for  better  companionship 
will  move  progressive  souls  to  missionary  work — to 
the  uplifting  of  those  asking  to  be  raised.  Respond- 
ing to  this  soul-appeal  for  betterment,  made  continu- 


THE  FUTURE:  LIFE:  325 

ously  and  continually  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest 
spirits  struggling  for  perfection,  will  be  the  chief 
occupation  of  those  in  the  spiritual  world,  as  it 
should  be  the  chief  business  of  those  on  this  materrai 
plane. 

RECOGNITION  thus  seems  to  be  the  only  worthy 
prize  of  the  future,  withholding  it  the  only  punish- 
ment. What  is  the  prize  for  which  we  struggle  Here? 
Is  it  not  RECOGNITION  ?  Putting  aside  our  strug- 
gles for  food,  raiment,  warmth  and  shelter,  what  is  it 
we  are  so  eagerly  seeking  but  admission  to  a  better 
circle  of  acquaintances,  "recognition"  by  those  es- 
teemed our  superiors?  What  is  the  "recognition"  of 
others  worth  to  us  if  it  is  not  to  enlarge  our  Con- 
sciousnesses of  ourselves,  to  make  us  feel  conscious 
of  increased  worth,  this  having  as  its  climax  a  "recog- 
nition" of  our  own  perfect  Rightness  ?  "Recogni- 
tion" is  nothing  but  Reason  RE-cognizing — taking  a 
new  view  of  ourselves  or  others.  We  are  all  burn- 
ingly  anxious  for  others  to  take  a  new  and  more 
favorable  view  of  us,  of  our  attainments,  our  powers, 
our  possessions,  that  we  may  be  thus  enabled  to  estab- 
lish a  new  and  more  favorable  view  of  ourselves.  /-\ 
good  opinion  of  ourselves,  the  best  possible  opinion 
of  ourselves,  is  what  we  are  after;  this  is  the  URGE 


326  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

TO  RIGHTNESS  in  the  Ego,  impelling  it  Here  and 
Now,  as  it  will  impel  it  There  and  Then,  to  PER- 
FECTION. 

These  are  not  speculations  with  regard  to  the 
Future  State,  but  reasonable  deductions  made  from 
observations  of  the  workings  of  the  law  of  Rightness 
and  its  elemental  auxiliary  laws.  Speculations  have 
been  avoided  as  unprofitable,  and  the  space  at  hand 
will  allow  us  to  dwell  but  briefly  on  the  workings  of 
the  laws  we  know  Here  and  Now  as  they  will  be 
found  There  and  Then.  We  have  arrived  at  the 
principle  governing  things  Here,  and  it  remains  for 
each  one  of  us  to  reason  out  the  workings  of  that 
principle  There;  it  is  a  delightful  and  uplifting  study. 
For  instance,  the  Great  Philosophy  says  there  will 
be  no  marrying  nor  giving  in  marriage  There.  Fol- 
low this  out  to  its  legitimate  conclusion.  Marriage 
is  a  ceremony  dictated  by  Reason  as  necessary  for  the 
protection  of  both  the  individual  and  the  community 
in  order  that  legal  parents  may  be  cognized  by  the 
law  as  the  proper  custodians  of  and  providers  for 
all  offspring.  As  there  will  be  nothing  to  provide  for 
offspring  but  companionship,  marriage  will  be  an  un- 
necessary conventionality  in  the  Future  State.  It 
does  not  follow  that  the  propagation  of  the  species 
will  cease  as  that  species  rises  to  a  higher  plane; 
nothing  in  Nature  indicates  this.  On  the  contrary, 


THE  FUTURE  LIFE  327 

we  know  that  the  higher  an  animal  rises  in  its  grade 
of  breeding  the  more  valuable  it  becomes,  and  as  Man 
rises  nearer  perfection  it  becomes  more  desirable  that 
the  propagation  of  the  higher  species  should  go  on. 
True,  there  are  no  physical  bodies  to  produce  physical 
children,  but  there  will  be  spiritual  bodies  to  produce 
spiritual  children;  if  it  were  not  so,  the  beautiful  in- 
stincts of  maternity  would  remain  unused  for  the 
countless  billions  of  years  during  which  spiritual 
women  will  exist.  The  relation  of  men  and  women 
as  Positive  and  Negative  forces  will  remain  un- 
changed, and  though  the  method  of  selection  will  be 
unhampered  by  the  conventionalities  of  Now  we  may 
be  sure  the  proprieties  of  Then  will  be  insisted  upon. 
Family  ties,  of  course,  will  be  loosened  and  the  mere 
physical  relationships  of  earth  will  gradually  fade 
out  of  existence  as  spiritual  beings  find  they  cease 
to  be  helpful.  Intellectual,  spiritual  attachments  be- 
gun Here  should  develop  in  strength  There,  and 
every  relationship  that  is  reasonable — right — Here  will 
find  a  congenial  atmosphere  There. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

CONCLUSION — THE  OFFICE:  OF  REASON   IN  THE 
INFINITE  ECONOMY 

If  anything  can  be  proven  by  Reason — and  we 
know  of  no  other  means  of  proving  a  thing  to  be 
true  or  untrue — we  have  in  these  studies  demon- 
strated that: 

We  are  because  Life  is. 

Nothing  anterior  to  Life  is  conceivable ;  the 
non-existence  of  Life  is  inconceivable,  there- 
fore to  us  Life  always  was  and  always  will  be. 

Life  and  Mind  are  identical,  as  neither  could 
exist  prior  to  or  without  the  other. 

While  we  cannot  conceive  of  the  non-exist- 
ence of  Life,  we  can  conceive  of  it  being 
Alone,  the  Essence  of  all  things,  the  Expres- 
sion of  nothing;  as  the  Universal  Unit,  Im- 
movable, having  nowhere  to  move,  but  pos- 
sessing the  power  of  causing  Motion,  it  being 
Omnipotent,  Omnipresent,  Omniscient. 


CONCLUSION  329 

Without  Motion  nothing  could  be  done, 
therefore  its  first  process  must  have  been  con- 
ditioning itself  for  Action,  which  it  did,  inso- 
much as  we  see  evidences  that  Action  has  been 
and  is. 

It  polarized  itself ;  became  Positive  and  Neg- 
ative Life,  acting  and  re-acting  upon  each 
other — the  Positive  emitting  the  Urge,  the 
Negative  responding  by  action.  This  being 
the  law  of  Power  Now,  and  as  physical  laws 
are  unchanging,  we  have  concluded  that  it  was 
the  law  of  Power  Then. 

Positive  Life,  the  Infinite  Life,  was  Then 
and  is  Now  Immobile,  having  nowhere  to  go, 
nothing  in  which  to  move. 

Negative  —  Expressed  —  Life  Then  became 
Motion  and  is  Now  Motion. 

Varying  degrees  of  velocity  in  this  Motion 
caused  constrictions — vortices — of  various  den- 
sities. 

These  were  and  are  Elemental  and  Eternal; 
known  to  science  as  Atoms,  in  this  work  as 
Consciousnesses,  a  Consciousness  being  that 
which  knows  what  it  is  and  what  it  is  for. 

The  coming  into  existence  of  these  Atoms  or 
Consciousnesses  was  the  origin  of  the  period 


330  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

we  know  as  Time  and  Space.  The  partner- 
ships, combinations  and  colonizations  of  these 
Atoms  have  produced  Things  as  we  apprehend 
them. 

Mind  being  the  original  and  only  creative 
element,  everything  was  and  is  Mind,  having 
the  function  inseparable  from  Mind,  that  of 
Thinking. 

In  the  above  conclusions  we  have  taken  nothing  for 
granted,  but  have  reasoned  from  what  we  know  to 
what  must  have  been.  Everything  we  have  found 
being  Good,  we  have  concluded  that  everything  is 
Good,  and  that  the  cause  of  everything  is  therefore 
Good,  and  that  everything  will  be  Good.  It  has  been 
proven  that: 

Every  Thing,  being  Mind,  Thinks.  Man, 
being  a  Thing,  Thinks,  but  he  also  Reasons. 

Man  is  the  only  Thing  that  Reasons. 

All  Unreasoning  Nature  automatically 
Thinks  from  a  Point  of  Rightness  set  for  each 
thing  by  the  Infinite. 

Man  alone  Thinks  from  a  Point  of  Right- 
ness  he  is  forced  to  set  for  himself.  He  is 
given  Reason  with  which  to  "set"  his  Point  of 
Rightness;  he  is  given  nothing  else  not  pos- 


CONCLUSION  331 

sessed  by  Unreasoning  Nature  with  which  to 
find  this  Point  of  Rightness. 

No  provision  has  been  made  by  the  Infinite 
to  prevent  mistakes  in  reasoning,  or  to  provide 
against  an  initial  mistake. 

The  possibility  of  Man  making  mistakes  is  a 
part  of  the  Omniscient  economy;  without  it 
Reason  would  be  useless,  and  Man  impossible. 
Man  would  be  impossible  if  he  had  no  oppor- 
tunity to  choose  between  Right  and  Wrong; 
his  Rightness  would  be  automatic  like  that  of 
the  horse  or  tree. 

The  Infinite,  being  the  Essence  of  Goodness, 
gave  Man  a  sufficient  equipment — Reason — to 
arrive  at  Positive  Rightness. 

Man,  to  be  a  Man,  must  gain  his  Point  of 
Rightness  by  his  own  experience  or  by  profit- 
ing by  the  experience  of  others,  and  though 
this  seems  to  us  to  be  a  tedious  and  painful 
process  we  cannot  deny  that  it  is  so  because 
we  make  it  so.  This  in  itself  is  a  part  of  our 
experience.  The  length  of  time  it  takes  Man 
to  arrive  at  Positive  Rightness  is  not  consid- 
ered by  Infinity,  because  Infinity  cognizes 
neither  Time  nor  Space. 


332  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

Man  cannot  complain  of  the  length  or  un- 
happiness  of  his  experience,  because  he  has  the 
equipment  within  himself  to  shorten  it  or  ren- 
der it  less  unhappy.  If  he  had  not  this  equip- 
ment he  would  have  a  right  to  complain,  but 
a  right  to  complain  against  Infinite  Goodness 
involves  a  contradiction  of  terms  which  makes 
it  impossible  to  believe  that  Man's  equipment 
is  deficient. 

Man's  special  equipment  —  Reason  —  being 
sufficient  to  enable  him  to  arrive  at  Positive 
Rightness,  is  therefore  sufficient  to  enable  him 
to  arrive  at  Rightness  with  regard  to  every- 
thing, regardless  of  the  gravity  or  unimport- 
ance of  the  subject  being  considered. 

Man,  therefore,  can  understand  himself  and 
his  relation  to  the  Infinite. 

If  Reason  can  prove  anything  about  itself,  its  office 
and  capacity,  the  above  conclusions  are  unshakable. 
Now  let  us  consider  the  conclusions  Reason  has  ar- 
rived at  with  regard  to  Man's  relation  to  Infinity.  It 
has  been  proved  that: 

Infinity  is  the  Supreme  Ego. 

Man,  with  the  supreme  endowment  of  Rea- 
son, is  the  Lesser  Ego. 


CONCLUSION  333 

Every  Consciousness  and  Subconsciousness 
is  an  Ego. 

Each  Ego,  Infinite  or  small,  is  to  itself  the 
center  of  the  Universe,  each  being  conscious 
of  its  complete  equipment  for  its  own  good. 
This  is  true  of  Man,  limited  as  his  Egoism  is 
by  his  neglect  of  his  Reason. 

Perfection  of  Reason  will  alone  make  perfect 
the  Human  Ego. 

The  Infinite  Ego  compels  the  Lesser  Ego's 
obedience  only  to  its  law  of  Rightness — the 
only  Infinite,  consequently  the  only  unbreak- 
able law. 

Each  Unreasoning  Ego  acts  automatically, 
obediently,  in  harmony  with  this  law. 

The  Reasoning  Ego  is  forced  to  fix  at  the 
moment  of  conscious  action  a  Point  of  Right- 
ness  of  its  own  before  it  can  act. 

Living  is  a  continuous,  progressive  series  of 
changes  of  the  state  of  mind  of  each  thing. 

Each  change  of  mind  in  each  thing  must 
pass  the  censorship  of  the  Infinite  Ego  before 
it  can  become  the  desired  state  of  mind. 

The  changing  states  of  mind  in  the  Human 
Ego  are  seen  to  pass  the  Infinite  Censor  with- 
out reference  to  what  we  call  moral  laws,  and 


334  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

without  regard  to  what  is  good  or  bad  for  the 
body  or  spirit  of  the  Human  Ego,  these  things 
being  left  to  the  censorship  of  Reason. 

Every  conscious  change  of  the  state  of  mind 
of  the  Human  Ego  must  pass  the  censorship 
of  Reason. 

Reason  is  thus  seen  to  run  on  the  only  line 
that  parallels  Infinity — running  beneath  it,  it  is 
true,  but  paralleling  it  in  the  geometrical  sense 
expressed  by  the  axiom  that  two  parallel  lines, 
if  produced  indefinitely,  will  never  meet.  The 
meaning  of  this  axiom  is  thus  fully  seen,  for 
nothing  can  be  conceived  except  Reason  and 
Rightness  which  could  forever  approach  one 
another  without  meeting,  the  meeting  some- 
where of  tangible  bodies  being  considered  in- 
evitable by  the  assertion  that  they  are  ap- 
proaching each  other.  Reason  can  never  be 
Infinity,  no  matter  how  nearly  it  approaches  it, 
because  it  is  a  Consciousness,  an  Eternal  but 
an  Expressed  thing,  separated  eternally  from 
the  Infinite  only  by  its  consciousness  of  itself. 

The  Ego  possessing  it  is  Infinity  to  itself, 
the  Ego  being  filled  to  the  fulness  of  its  Con- 
sciousness by  the  Infinite,  which  to  the  extent 
of  the  Consciousness  becomes  it,  taking  on  its 
characteristics  and  shape.  This  explains  why 


CONCLUSION  335 

Man,  at  all  stages  of  his  advancement,  par- 
tially recognizing  the  Urge  within  him,  has  so 
long  given  human  shape  to  Infinity,  thus  con- 
fusing HIS  Infinity  with  THE  Infinity. 

The  proper  recognition  of  Reason  by  each 
human  being  will  spiritualize  instead  of  mate- 
rialize the  human  race. 

Materialism,  that  gross  conception  of  Man's  com- 
position, purpose  and  place,  which  asserts  that  "Death 
ends  all,"  has  been  stubbornly  opposed  by  Religion 
of  every  sort,  with  but  partial  success  it  is  true, 
because  Reason  has  remained  unsatisfied  and  true 
faith  made  difficult.  For  what  Religion  of  every  kind 
has  done  to  stem  the  tide  of  Materialism,  it  is  to  be 
praised;  for  what  it  has  left  undone  in  this  matter, 
as  for  what  it  has  contributed  to  the  continuance, 
the  deepening,  the  strengthening  of  Materialism,  it 
is  to  be  censured.  It  would  be  as  idle  to  assert  that 
everyone  who  goes  to  church  does  so  because  he  or 
she  Believes  in  what  is  taught  there,  as  to  contend 
that  everyone  who  stays  away  from  church  is  ac- 
tuated by  a  dislike  of  Goodness.  In  each  case  how 
they  act  demonstrates  how  they  think;  the  Infinite 
Urge  to  Rightness  is  the  same  in  both;  in  their 
Reasoning  alone  do  they  differ.  Those  who  go  to 
church  in  search  of  Goodness  are  no  better  than 
those  who  stay  away  for  the  same  reason ;  those  who 


336  THE;  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

stay  away  in  obedience  to  a  low  impulse  are  no  worse 
than  those  who  go  in  obedience  to  the  same  impul- 
sion. If  there  were  more  secular  resorts  where  intel- 
lectual uplift  could  be  obtained  on  the  Day  of  Rest 
there  would  doubtless  be  fewer  churches,  though 
better  ones,  insomuch  as  the  competition  with  En- 
lightened Reason  would  discourage  useless  harangues 
and  wearying  attempts  at  Emotionalism. 

Emotionalism  has  its  place,  but  it  is  thinking — act- 
ing— not  Reasoning.  While  the  rhetorician  convinces 
by  his  logic,  the  orator  moves  his  audience  by  the 
magic  of  his  thinking — acting.  Not  all  preachers  are 
orators;  many  of  them  can  never  hope  to  reach  that 
distinction,  but  they  all  attempt  to  move  their  con- 
gregations without  first  convincing  them.  They  would 
be  more  successful  if  they  gave  Reason  its  proper 
place  and  made  it  their  business  to  convince  their 
hearers  of  the  logical  soundness  of  what  they  have 
to  say,  before  attempting  to  move  them  into  action 
by  Thinking — Acting — a  part  they  have  not  mastered. 
We  love  the  actor  who  has  mastered  his  part ;  thinks, 
acts  it;  who  at  the  moment  of  expression  feels  that 
he  is  it.  We  know  that  it  required  careful  study — 
the  exercise  of  his  Reason — before  he  reached  his 
Point  of  Rightness  and  was  able  to  feel  at  the  moment 
of  expression  that  he  was  the  thing  he  expressed. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  poor  actor  may  fume  and  strut 


CONCLUSION  337 

about  the  stage  shouting  his  tragic  lines,  with  no 
effect  but  to  weary  or  amuse  those  of  his  audience 
sufficiently  cultured  to  recognize  his  failure  to  reason 
himself  Right  before  beginning  t©  Think — Act.  Even 
those  persistent  theatregoers,  the  "gallery  gods,"  hoot 
in  derision,  for  they  know  what  he  does  not,  that 
he  is  not  Right.  Occupants  of  pulpits  are  not  im- 
mune from  the  same  judgment  and  must  learn  that 
Reason  rules  every  conscious  human  action — not  some 
actions  in  some  things,  but  all  actions  in  everything. 
Elemental  laws  are  universal,  nothing  can  escape 
them ;  for  if  one  part  of  the  Universe  were  immune 
from  such  laws,  such  immunity  would  bring  into  the 
chaos  of  lawlessness  those  sections  which  were  sup- 
posed to  be  law-abiding.  If  we  are  to  be  guided  by 
Reason  at  all  we  must  be  guided  by  Reason  entirely. 
No  section  of  any  civilized  community  is  immune 
from  the  ordinary  civil  and  criminal  laws  enforced 
because  they  are  considered  right — in  harmony  with 
Reason — by  that  community.  Archbishops,  bishops, 
ecclesiastics  of  all  sorts  must  pay  their  debts  and  re- 
spect the  personal  and  property  rights  of  others ;  their 
Reason  tells  them  this  is  right.  Can  these  same 
ecclesiastics  expect  what  they  preach,  and  how  they 
preach  it,  to  be  kept  out  of  the  Court  of  Reason — to 
be  immune  from  the  laws  of  Reason?  What  have 
they  that  other  men  have  not  that  would  justify  this  ? 


338  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

They  preach  many  things  which  time  and  again  have 
been  proved  to  be  scientifically,  logically  impossible, 
and  their  only  defense  is  that  they  have  a  right  to  the 
"faith  that  is  in  them,"  obtaining  this  faith,  as  they 
claim,  by  a  means  superior  to  Reason — Faith.  How 
do  they  explain  how  this  "faith"  is  produced  by 
"faith"  ?  Did  they  get  it  in  their  hands  or  feet,  or 
through  anything  but  their  intellectual  faculties?  If 
through  the  latter,  they  must  get  their  faith  in  a 
Personal  God  as  they  get  their  faith  in  a  stationary 
Sun,  through  Reason,  with  its  seven  intakes — the  five 
Senses,  Memory  and  the  Supraconsciousness,  the 
Infinite  Life  within  us  all.  They  do  not  claim  that 
the  Personal  God  or  the  stationary  Sun  is  revealed 
by  the  five  Senses  or  by  Memory;  it  must  be  that  it 
is  suggested  by  the  Urge  of  the  Infinite  Rightness 
within  us,  and  proven  true  or  untrue  by  our  Reason. 
It  does  not  matter  whether  it  is  suggested  to  us  or 
was  suggested  to  one  of  our  progenitors;  the  sug- 
gestion must  have  come  by  this  route.  How  did  the 
suggestion  receive  expression  if  not  through  the 
Reason?  How  can  the  suggestion  coming  into  the 
intellectual  faculties  of  anyone,  prophet,  priest  or 
poet,  find  expression  except  through  the  Reason? 
If  it  comes  through  the  Reason  it  must  be  shaped 
by  the  Reason,  colored  by  the  Reason  of  the  one  re- 
ceiving the  suggestion — for  it  is  the  business  of  Rea- 


CONCLUSION  339 

son,  the  only  business  of  Reason,  to  digest,  adjust 
that  which  comes  to  it ;  have  it  purified  in  its  reflective 
department  by  the  Supraconsciousness  before  releas- 
ing its  "clutch"  of  the  Will  and  passing  it  to  the 
motor  brain  and  nervous  system  to  become  the 
thought — the  action — of  the  whole  Being. 

A  Personal  God,  and  a  Sun  which  rose  and  set 
respectively  in  the  east  and  west,  alike  were  beliefs 
of  Paganism  and  early  Christianity.  The  stationary 
Sun  and  the  moving  Earth  when  announced  by  Gali- 
leo were  treated  as  heresies,  and  Galileo  imprisoned. 
Science  has  since  so  amply  proven  Galileo's  theory  to 
be  true  that  all  civilization,  including  the  ecclesiastics, 
has  accepted  it;  not  that  the  Senses  convince  us  that 
it  is  true,  but  because  science  has  shown  beyond  ques- 
tion that  it  must  be  so.  Science  has  been  equally 
explicit  in  showing  that  the  Personal  God  believed  in 
by  Christians  is  even  more  impossible  than  a  Sun 
circling  around  the  Earth,  but  Religionists  have  re- 
fused to  accept  its  proof  and  have  branded  the 
scientists  as  heretics,  though  restrained  by  Enlight- 
ened Reason  from  imprisoning  them.  What  more 
evidence  have  Theologians  of  a  Personal  God  than 
their  forebears  had  of  a  stationary  Sun?  Indeed, 
their  ancestors  had  their  Senses  to  convince  them  of 
the  moving  Sun,  while  of  a  Personal  God  we  have  no 
evidence,  not  even  of  our  Senses,  only  an  unauthenti- 


340  THE:  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

cated  tradition  which  arose  in  the  age  of  myths,  while 
we  have  every  scientific  proof  that  can  be  desired 
that  a  Personal  God  cannot  be  Infinite  and  that  the 
Infinite  cannot  be  a  Personal  God. 

Can  Theologians  suggest  any  other  means  of  In- 
spiration receiving  human  expression  than  through 
Reason?  Of  course  there  were  the  tables  of  stone 
containing  the  Ten  Commandments,  but  who  ever 
saw  them,  except  Moses,  and  could  personally  testify 
that  a  Divine  hand  chiseled  the  inscriptions? 
The  Israelites  themselves,  in  the  days  when  these 
tables  were  alleged  to  have  been  brought  from  Horeb, 
were  distinctly  dubious  about  their  alleged  super- 
natural origin  or  they  would  not  have  been  so  prone, 
after  receiving  them,  to  follow  after  strange  gods. 

It  is  idle  to  claim  immunity  from  the  Court  of  Rea- 
son for  the  so-called  Inspiration  contained  in  Holy 
Writings.  We  must  consider  its  validity,  and  in  ex- 
actly the  same  way  that  we  consider  the  validity  of 
any  other  evidence  offered  to  our  judgment.  We 
must  keep  open  all  the  intakes  of  our  Reason  to  obtain 
a  proper  verdict.  It  may  be  said  that  by  closing  all 
the  intakes  except  the  one  admitting  Light  from  the 
Infinite,  we  may  obtain  pure  Truth.  Not  so.  In  such 
a  condition  Reason  suspends  its  office  and  does  what 
has  herein  been  described  as  "going  into  the  Infinite," 


CONCLUSION  341 

from  which  it  emerges  without  the  record  of  any 
communication  or  knowledge  of  anything  having 
transpired.  This  must  be  true,  because  Memory  is  in- 
hibited both  from  furnishing  information  and  record- 
ing what  happens.  This  condition  is  called  Repose 
and,  like  sleep,  is  restful,  but  the  only  other  result  of 
it  is  upon  the  Consciousness — Reason — which  emerges 
with  THE  KNOWLEDGE  WHICH  WAS  IN  IT 
subtly  purified  by  contact  with  the  Infinite.  Thus  it 
is  seen  that  the  only  effect  of  such  a  procedure,  out- 
side of  its  restfulness  to  the  body,  is  upon  Reason, 
which  has  been  enabled  to  do  better  work.  Mark 
that  the  effect  of  the  Infinite  Life  is  upon  what  is 
already  in  the  Consciousness;  the  Infinite  Life  does 
not  implant  knowledge,  it  develops  it.  To  implant 
knowledge  would  be  to  inject  something  into  the 
Human  Consciousness — Reason — and  that  would  be 
an  interference  forbidden  by  creative  fiat  and  de- 
structive of  Man's  Free  Will,  his  Individuality.  In- 
finity does  not  take  the  initiative ;  Man  must  do  that. 
Every  possibility  is  within  him  in  the  shape  of  un- 
germinated  seed,  valueless  to  him  of  course  if  he 
does  not  by  Reason  cause  these  thought-seeds  to 
grow.  Causing  them  to  grow  is  the  process  we  know 
as  Study.  We  start  to  study  a  thing  because  some- 
thing in  our  environment,  or  those  in  charge  of  our 
education  suggest  it,  that  is,  stir  some  particular  seed 


342  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE 

within  us  into  germination.  We  become  more  perfect 
in  the  things  we  study  than  in  the  things  we  do  not 
study;  if  we  could  go  to  the  Infinite  and  successfully 
apply  for  knowledge  to  be  given  us  directly  without 
the  process  of  study,  we  would  at  once  drop  the  tedi- 
ous preliminaries  and  cease  developing  Reason  in  a 
search  for  Rightness  of  its  Own  Finding.  This 
would  cause  our  reasoning  faculties  to  shrivel,  become 
torpid,  and  then  atrophied. 

Man  has  not  been  provided  with  any  machinery 
for  either  intaking  or  expressing  wisdom,  except  the 
machinery  of  Reason.  Why  do  those  who  intend  to 
become  professional  pulpiteers  go  to  college?  Is  it 
for  the  smattering  they  obtain  of  science,  literature, 
arts  and  the  dead  languages,  or  for  the  training  of 
their  Reason?  We  recognize  the  necessity  of  any 
public  speaker  being  able  to  express  himself  gram- 
matically, for  if  he  fails  to  do  so  we  instantly  reason 
that  if  he  does  not  know  how  to  talk  he  does  not 
know  how  to  think;  or  rather,  does  not  know  how  to 
reason,  for  by  reasoning  he  gets  his  language  right 
before  he  thinks  it,  speaks  it,  unless  his  Subcon- 
sciousness  has  been  so  thoroughly  trained  by  study — 
exercising  his  Reason — that  his  expression,  like  the 
expression  of  the  trained  pianist,  is  almost  wholly 
Subconscious.  College  education  is  only  useful  as  it 
places  us  nearer  some  Point  of  Rightness  desired  by 


CONCLUSION  343 

Reason.     Theological  students   do  not  go  to  college 
to  strengthen  their  Faith  unless  Reason  has  a  part  in 
the  upbuilding  of  Faith;  and  if  it  has  a  part  in  the 
upbuilding  of  Faith  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  has  a 
share  in  the  shaping,  coloring  of  that  Faith,  or  that 
it  has  all  to  do  with  that  Faith  except  the  suggestions 
invited  by  it — Reason — from  the   Infinite   within  us. 
These  suggestions  can  come  in  no  other  way,  for  if 
evidence   were   to  be   offered   a   man   through    some 
supernatural   channel,   such   as   a   ghostly   apparition, 
he  would  first  of  ail  be  forced  to  convince  his  Reason 
that  what  he  saw  was  a  supernatural  apparition,  not 
a  trick  being  played  upon  him  by  some  of  his  fellow 
students.     He   would   search   his   room   for  evidence 
that  no  one  could  enter  except  by  supernatural  means ; 
take  pains  to  convince  himself  that  he  was  awake; 
tax  his  memory  with  the  details  of  what  he  saw  and 
heard;    examine    the    communication    he    received    as 
to  its  reasonableness,  and  probably  scrutinize  himself 
as    to    his    sanity — his    possession   of    Reason.      This 
would  be  Reason's  share  in  the  incident,  and  it  is  a 
share   which  could  by  no  means  be  dispensed   with. 
All  this  is  so  evident  that  we  cannot  but  wonder  that 
clerics  insist  upon  occupying  the  anomalous  position 
in   relation   to   Reason   which   has    resulted    in   their 
being  classified  as  belonging  to  the  "third  sex" — men, 
women   and  parsons.     The  first  possible  act   of   In- 


344  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE: 

finity  was  the  polarization  of  itself — becoming  Posi- 
tive and  Negative ;  this  is  the  relation  of  the  male 
and  female  found  to  exist  in  all  Nature.  In  endeavor- 
ing to  hold  to  the  tenets  of  his  "Faith"  the  parson 
refuses  to  accept  the  Elemental  law  of  Reason,  while 
in  other  matters  he  admits  the  necessity  of  observing 
this  law.  Thus,  being  neither  Positive  nor  Negative, 
neither  male  nor  female,  it  is  not  strange  that  his 
mentation  is  ascribed  to  a  sex  found  nowhere  else  in 
Nature.  If  he  examines  his  position  in  the  commun- 
ity of  which  he  is  a  part  he  will  find  plenty  of  evi- 
dence that  he  is  tacitly  regarded,  as  is  well  expressed 
by  a  phrase  of  the  day,  as  being  "Not  quite  all  there." 
His  congregation  does  not  allow  him  to  talk  politics, 
does  not  expect  him  to  take  an  active  part  in  busi- 
ness, his  amusements  are  restricted,  his  methods  of 
living  and  bringing  up  his  family  over-scrutinized, 
and  a  "daily  walk  and  conversation"  demanded  of 
him  unlike  that  of  his  fellow  citizens.  These  dis- 
abilities excite  our  sympathy  but  not  our  surprise.  If 
the  pastor  demands  unreasonable  things  of  his  flock, 
as  he  does  when  he  asks  them  to  accept  unreasonable 
doctrines,  it  is  not  surprising  that  his  flock  and  all 
similar  flocks  are  unreasonable  in  their  demands 
upon  him.  Without  appreciating  it  they  reason  that 
their  pastor  cannot  amount  to  much  intellectually  or 
he  would  not  be  a  preacher;  he  would  be  a  lawyer, 


CONCLUSION  345 

or  a  doctor,  or  something  economically  useful.  As  a 
rule  they  pay  him  less  than  anybody  else  with  a  simi- 
lar "education"  is  expected  to  receive,  but,  if  we 
regard  them  as  properly  or  even  partially  " converted/' 
as  much  as  they  think  he  is  worth,  if  not  more.  True, 
some  churches  pay  their  pastors  what  they  consider  a 
large  salary,  but  they  do  it  because  they  desire  an 
attractive  preacher,  and  from  much  the  same  motive 
that  they  individually  pay  their  cooks  unusual  wages 
for  serving  unusually  good  meals.  Successful  re- 
vivalists are  said  to  make  money  and  to  be  the  objects 
of  disgust  or  envy,  or  both,  of  clerics  who  do  not 
desire  or  do  not  know  how  to  turn  religious  services 
into  a  circus,  and  these  men  should  probably  be 
classed  not  as  clerics,  but  as  clowns.  These  remarks 
are  not  made  in  any  spirit  of  levity  or  fault-finding, 
but  to  show  the  existing  and  natural  relation  between 
those  of  the  community  who  make  their  living  by 
reasoning  and  those  who  get  it  by  following  a  call- 
ing which  rejects  Reason  as  unnecessary  and  dan- 
gerous. 

Reference  has  been  made  in  this  chapter  to  the 
censure  merited  by  the  "Church"  for  what  it  has 
left  undone  to  stem  the  tide  of  Materialism,  as  well 
as  for  what  it  has  done  to  deepen  and  strengthen  this 
tide.  Of  what  does  this  consist?  Telling  a  man  that 
he  is  a  spiritual  being  and  must  live  forever  does  him 


346  THE  THINKING  UNIVERSE: 

no  good  if  accompanied  by  a  picture  of  the  Here- 
after so  dull,  uninviting  and  unnatural  as  to  Heaven, 
so  horrible  and  fiendishly  cruel  as  to  Hell,  that  his 
Reason  rejects  both  and  in  his  weariness  he  decides 
that  death  ends  all.  Man  is  not  naturally  a  Ma- 
terialist, for  the  most  barbarous  tribes  believe  in  a 
Deity  and  future  life  of  some  sort.  Materialism  ob- 
tains its  grip  through  the  materialization  of  our  Deity 
and  future  state.  Christianity  is  only  ahead  of 
Paganism  in  this  respect  insomuch  as  its  pictures  are 
more  refined  though  perhaps  less  alluring,  but  none 
the  less  impossible — they  are  still  the  pictures  of  a 
Material  God  and  a  Material  Heaven.  It  claims  its 
God  as  the  Infinite,  which  is  impossible  if  God  be  a 
person  at  all,  even  a  spiritual  person,  for  to  be  a 
person  God  must  have  form  and  size,  which  the  In- 
finite cannot  have,  as  it  is  Everywhere,  Everything, 
Always,  with  no  possibility  of  having  outlines,  as 
there  is  nothing  to  outline  and  nothing  from  which 
the  outlines  could  separate  It.  Neither  can  there 
be  a  Material  Heaven  or  a  Material  Hell,  with  ma- 
terial pleasures  in  one  and  material  tortures  in  the 
other,  for  all  sensual  pleasures  and  pains  must  be  left 
behind  with  the  bodies  that  can  apprehend  them. 
The  real  pleasures,  pains  and  possibilities  of  the  future 
as  suggested  to  us  by  Reason  are  never  depicted,  and 
the  great  masses  of  humanity  cling  to  material  things 


CONCLUSION  347 

as  being  all  that  is  worth  while,  or  so  nearly  all  that 
is  worth  while  that  they  are  willing  to  take  chances 
of  getting  their  share  of  what  is  left  over.  The  doc- 
trine that  Man  is  completely  equipped  to  take  care  of 
himself  Here  as  well  as  There  is  never  preached.  In 
matters  of  health  he  is  encouraged  to  believe  that  his 
spirit  does  not  control  his  body,  and  that  when  he  is 
sick  he  is  the  victim  of  an  "act  of  Providence,"  what- 
ever that  means.  As  to  "Sin,"  he  is  taught  that  he 
didn't  start  it,  can't  stop  it,  and  can  only  escape 
from  its  penalties  by  "clinging  to  the  Cross."  To 
change  Man's  attitude  towards  Infinity ;  to  uplift  him 
into  a  consciousness  of  being  his  own  Infinity ;  to  stir 
his  Reason  into  grasping  the  fact  that  he  is  perfectly 
equipped  for  every  emergency;  to  point  him  to  the 
power  he  has  within  him  to  grapple  with  sickness  and 
sin,  is  the  aim  of  The  Thinking  Universe.  That  its 
logic  will  be  at  once  accepted  by  the  Theologians  is 
not  expected,  nor  is  it  feared  that  all  the  seed  sown 
will  fall  upon  rocks  and  desert  places  and  fail  to 
germinate.  The  comforting  thought  remains  with  us 
that  no  matter  what  happens  Man  will  go  on  Reason- 
ing until  he  becomes  Positive  in  his  Rightness,  and 
the  Universe  will  continue  Thinking,  always  Positive 
in  its  Rightness.  There  is  no  end.  Until  we  meet 
again, 

SALUTAMUS. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


LD 


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